Natalie Angier

the Shiva approach to reproduction, the perpetual death and rebirth of the uterine lining, is cheaper than maintaining the uterus in fertile form would be

During the last three months of pregnancy, the growth of the fetal brain is so explosive that stoking it demands nearly three quarters of all the energy entering the baby through the umbilical cord. No

There is more to the womb’s inventory. The organ fabricates drugs that in other contexts would be illegal. It synthesizes and secretes beta-endorphins and dynorphins, two of the body’s natural opiates and chemical cousins to morphine and heroin