Things We Don’t Know
Explaining the questions scientists are trying to answer.
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Caesareans (Things We Don’t Know about Pregnancy Series #15)
20th March, 2020
Does the microbiome of caesarean-born babies affect them later in life? And why is the incidence of autism and ADHD higher amongst caesarean-born babies? Could it be for the same reasons caesarean was necessary, or because of the antibiotics used during the birth? How does caesarean birth affect hormone levels like oxytocin, and maternal-infant bonding?
Climate change, glacial recession and mammal communities
14th March, 2020
Changing climates have impacted the Earth for millions of years, and massive ice sheets have repeatedly advanced and retreated throughout history. These moving walls of ice have had an enormous impact on landscapes and the distribution of species, and little is known about how current species distribution is impacted by present day glacial recession.
Baby Brain (Things We Don’t Know about Pregnancy Series #14)
26th February, 2020
The literature disagrees whether baby brain is real, or just a figment of women’s imaginations. Multiple studies, however, have shown that having a baby and being a parent changes your brain, especially in later stages of pregnancy and parenthood. Is baby brain an adaptive mechanism, by-product of hormone fluctuations, or simply the result of overtiredness?
POPs
12th February, 2020
Persistent organic pollutants, or POPs are long-lived and harmful chemicals that bioaccumulate in wildilife, but scientists are still exploring what they are, how much and where they are.
Vitamins and Supplements (Things We Don’t Know about Pregnancy Series #13)
6th February, 2020
Is it a safe and good idea to take vitamins whilst pregnant? Evidence is contradictory, and may depend on your diet and the time of year your baby is due. Ongoing research has linked diseases such as heart disease, cancer and autism to oversupplementation of vitamins, and vitamin A can be downright toxic – especially if you’re pregnant.
There’s so much we don’t know about vitamins, including how they effect your microbiome, how well they absorb, and how they are stored in the body.
Determining the Sex of a Baby (Things We Don’t Know about Pregnancy Series #12)
30th January, 2020
Often misnamed as “gender”, sex primarily relates to the organs a person presents with, but we already know that it’s more complex than that. Observed biological sex and genetic sex may actually be different in some cases, we may be able to change our sex, and brain sex and body sex may be at odds.
