PadPall Page March 20

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We inherit some of our Mother's fears
In another rodent study, scientists
showed that maternal fear responses
could be passed down to their children
just by limited exposure to the fear
stimuli. The 2014 paper, published
in PNAS, showed that scents alone can
pass fear onto newborns. In the
experiment, female rats were first
conditioned using electric shocks to
fear the smell of peppermint. Then, the
rats were impregnated. When the pups
were born, they too were exposed to
the peppermint smell but were not given a shock.
Nevertheless, the pups were still afraid when
exposed to peppermint, even when their mother
wasn’t present. This may explain
why, in humans, PTSD and certain phobias can
sometimes be passed down from mothers to
children
Brains get a boost from a Mom's
heartbeat
A 2015 study from researchers at Brigham and
Women’s Hospital in Boston found that our brains are
not only activated by the sound of our mother’s voices
but also actually grow because of it. Twenty premature
babies, who had spent more time in an incubator than
with their moms, were studied as the sound of their
mother’s voice and heartbeat were pumped into the
incubators with tiny speakers. The babies, each born
between eight to 15 weeks early, listened to these
recordings three times a day for 30 days, while a
control group of another 20 didn’t get the private DJ
session.
By the end of the experiment, the scientists concluded
that the experimental group had developed
significantly larger auditory cortexes than the control
group. In other words, the sounds from their mothers
actually made parts of their brains grow. If only
calling your mom during finals could give you that
same brain-growing boost as well.
Our cells are in our Moms - and vice
versa
We may inherit genes from our mothers, but while
we’re in the womb, we pass on some of our genetic
material to them as well through the form of cells.
As a mother’s placenta grows, it attaches to her
arteries, creating a two-way channel between her and
her baby. Large amounts of fetal material are slurped
off into her bloodstream, leaving mom with her
infant’s cells entering her organs, becoming heart
muscle cells, and sometimes even turning into neurons.
A 2015 study in Molecular Human Reproduction found
that tissue samples of women who had died during or
just after pregnancy and were pregnant with boys had
male cells in their brains, hearts, and kidneys — with
roughly one cell out of every 1,000 being male.
For a time, scientists thought that these fetal cells in
mothers may pose a danger, perhaps increasing the
likelihood of developing autoimmune disorders. But
more recently, scientists have shown that these cells
actually help moms be healthy and decrease the
likelihood of developing cancer and cardiovascular
disease. On the flip side, cells from moms cross the
placenta and e nter the fetal body — meaning that you
have a bit of her cells as well.
Happy Mother's Day to
All
MOTHERS
of the world!
22.03.2020
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