Researchers identify a protein that promotes changes in adipose tissue in vitro and in pregnant mice and may help protect against gestational diabetes in humans.

Soranus of Ephesus’s manual shaped the way midwifery was practiced for more than a millennium.

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.

By measuring various pollutants in the immediate vicinity of pregnant women and tracking brain development of their children, researchers in Barcelona aim to untangle any influence the former has on the latter.

For too long, a physiological inability to conceive or carry a child through to birth has been seen as a minor medical issue.

Genes associated with preterm birth and protecting the fetus from the mother’s immune system appear to be regulated by HAND2.

In her current work, the University of Southern California psychologist is examining how the transition to fatherhood affects men’s brains.

High altitude is a natural laboratory for investigating pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, that restrict a fetus’s oxygen supply.

Work in rodents shows that the bacteria living in a mother’s gut can produce immunomodulatory metabolites and influence the production of maternal antibodies—both of which can affect her offspring’s development.

Bacteria in the gut influence the production of antibodies and themselves secrete metabolites. In a pregnant woman, these compounds may influence immune development of her fetus.

Meet some of the people featured in the August 2021 issue of The Scientist.

The organizers behind a Mothers in Science conference say that it’s time academia provide more support to researchers who are pregnant or looking after children.

A combination of approaches, including uterus transplantation and the joining of two animals’ circulatory systems, allowed males to bear pups, according to a preprint. But some experts say the experiments were not justified.  

This evolutionarily ancient fish species has a lifespan that’s around five times longer than previously thought, and a gestation time of more than five years.

Researchers integrated information from 45 protein, metabolite, and immune data points to identify a window two to four weeks before a pregnant person will go into labor.

Following vaccination, some women claim their periods have changed, leading to rumors about how the shots affect recipients’ reproductive systems, and even others’ by proxy.  

After a handful of cases in Ireland, clinicians there are warning that the virus might infect the placenta in very rare instances and cause fetal distress, but a rise in stillbirths has not been seen in epidemiological studies.

Scientists at the US CDC report no red flags in a preliminary analysis of the safety of Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s mRNA-based immunizations among expectant mothers.