12/19/11: Babies Start Learning in the Womb

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:00 — 1.4MB)

A new scientific field known as “fetal origins” is making news. Scientists involved in the study are coming to the groundbreaking realization that learning starts in the womb, much earlier than many imagined. Scientist and author Annie Murphy Paul says “The fetus, we now know, is not an inert blob, but an active and dynamic creature, responding and adapting as it readies itself for life in the particular world it will soon enter. Pregnancy is not a nine-month wait for the big event of birth, but a crucial period unto itself…and a time of
intense interest and excitement.”

In many ways, the human womb is still one of the final frontiers of scientific research. But reproductive science has drastically advanced during the past decade, and as a result the window to the womb is becoming much clearer.