Word: functionless
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...question: Why do women menstruate at all? As a means of disposing of unfertilized eggs and a plumped-up uterine lining, a monthly flow seems peculiarly wasteful. Women shed a great deal of blood and tissue, as well as valuable nutrients, particularly iron. "If menstruation were both costly and functionless," reasons Profet, "natural selection surely would have eliminated it long ago." Its persistence suggests that it offers some advantage...