Can the placenta predict lifelong health? Research shows that placental function may influence future disease risk.

Scientists are uncovering how the placenta, long viewed as a temporary pregnancy organ, acts as a powerful biological predictor of lifelong health, linking prenatal environments to future risks of ...

Modern medicine has begun to recognize that the placenta can have significant medical and scientific value even after childbirth.

The placenta has long been thought to produce serotonin during pregnancy. But in a new study, Yale researchers shatter the deep-rooted hypothesis—and show that the placenta doesn't produce serotonin ...

The placenta is the nutritive organ for the human fetus. It plays multiple roles in protecting the pregnancy from pathogens, producing the right endocrine milieu, supplying nutrients, and removing ...

The placenta never fails to amaze. The conventions that we take for granted as required for the normal formation and function of other organs are often flouted by placental trophoblasts, the ...

I am not the first person who has considered composing poetry to the placenta. One writer begins: “Oh Lady Placenta! What a life you lived in magenta.” Another almost coos to the “constant companion, ...

Researchers have discovered a direct association between placental function in pregnant women and future metabolic disorders in children and adults, a finding that could lead to earlier intervention ...

Finding out the sex of a baby during pregnancy could lead to better life chances, a new Cambridge study has discovered. Male baby pregnancies are more likely to result in complications, possibly ...

An important cancer-related gene may play a critical role in the development of the placenta, the organ that controls nutrient and oxygen exchange between a mother and her fetus during pregnancy, and ...