Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, they begin absorbing language while still in the womb.
Sensory and brain mechanisms for hearing are developed at 30 weeks, and a new study shows that unborn babies are listening to their mothers talk during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy, and at birth they can demonstrate what they’ve heard.
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If you want to get pregnant, see your dentist (No, we don’t mean you should have sex in the dental chair). A recent Australian study compared rates of periodontal disease with the speed by which women conceived and found that women with fewer cavities got pregnant more quickly. It turns out that the kind of oral bacteria that causes cavities also increases inflammation, which not only impacts placental health, but might even increase the risk of miscarriage or premature birth.
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If you were born bad, mom can save you–even BEFORE you’re born! It’s hard to think of a baby being violent or destructive, but the seeds of violence may be planted before a child is born, meaning that attention to health factors as early as the prenatal stage could prevent violence in later life.
Nursing expert Jianghong Liu says, "Violence affects everyone in society and the cost of violence also has an indirect impact on our lives. As a society we should invest in better health care for early life–as early as a growing fetus–in order to minimize their health risk factors for violence. It is never too early to intervene in the development of violent tendencies."
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Will something like this ever happen? Researchers are honing in on the development of what may be the first oral contraceptive for men. Since it turns out the women actually want sex more than men do, this is a good thing to know.
Researchers found that low doses of a drug stopped sperm production in mice with no apparent side effects. And crucial for a contraceptive, normal fertility was restored soon after drug administration was terminated.
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