Growing Babies

[widowwadman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fvh1j

Laverne Antrobus investigates the theory of foetal-maternal conflict, an idea championed by Harvard evolutionary biologist Professor David Haig and controversially believed by some to be to blame for a wide range for a wide range of behavioural and psychological disorders such as Tourettes, depression and autism.

On a biological level at least, the odyssey of pregnancy is dogged by conflict. It begins with the battle between 500 million sperm to reach the single egg, through the aggressive tactics employed by the cells of the placenta as they invade the wall of the uterus, to the escalation of hormones in later pregnancy that have been likened by some to a kind of hormonal cold war between mother and baby.

Antrobus discovers how the symptoms of pre-eclampsia in the mother are driven by the foetus lashing out for survival when the placenta begins to fail. She meets Dr Ananth Kuramanchi, the scientist who believes he has found the smoking gun of pre-eclampsia - a protein produced by foetal tissue that is capable of totally remodelling the maternal bloodstream to suit the foetus's goals.

Finally, Antrobus explores how conflict in the womb permeates the foetal genome as she investigates one of the most recent discoveries in genetics, genomic imprinting. She discovers how the genes of mother and father employ strategies of cunning and subterfuge to suit their own selfish ends.

Has anyone else watched this? I've only caught the second half after watching NMTB, but that's when all the interesting stuff about Tri 3 was. It was seriously interesting, and I'll have to watch the first half now. There's also a second show coming up which focuses on the post birth stuff.

 

[Sandi4Paul]

wacthed it, i found it really interesting, Logan was fascinated by the graphics, maybe he was lookingat it going, hmmm that seems familiar!

Sandi

 

[abcd1234]

I watched this on reply, i really enjoyed it.

I was amazed at the begining tbh, and everything the egg and sperm go through to become fertilised, and how the mother an fathers genes each contribute to certain things, like the fathers being the ones which encourage the baby to grow and mtohers discourage so as to prevent the baby getting too big for her.

Fascinating!!! (god i'm sad lol) I'm interesting in the bit they were saying abotu our experiences in the womb shaping who we are, you never know it might help me towards writing my dissertation