Some of our bones are easy to see. The zygomatic bones that give our cheeks shape, the delicate phalanges of our fingers, and the bony bulbs that are our kneecaps all stand out from beneath the flesh.

But the hyoid matters for more than manners. As a sort of structural scaffold for the conduit between mouth and esophagus, this small-but-mighty bone shuttles food that’s already been partially broken ...

The “big truck, small man” phenomenon is also seen in the animal kingdom. The loudest howler monkeys were found to have the smallest packages. Hyoid bone size, which is responsible for vocalizations, ...