Scientists found that prairie voles bred without receptors for oxytocin and showed the same monogamous mating, attachment, and parenting behaviors as regular voles, calling into question the notion that oxytocin is the “love hormone“, essential for forming social bonds and parenting. New research from scientists at UC San Francisco (UCSF), US, and Stanford Medicine, US, … Read more
It can be tricky in regional Australia to sustain what’s known as midwifery group programs (MGP), where women get to see one or two midwives their entire pregnancy, but one model in regional Victoria has proven it’s more than possible. Regarded by many as the “gold standard” in maternity services, MGPs are a continuity of … Read more
A new prognostic tool may help identify infants with cerebral palsy (CP) earlier, allowing them to receive therapies to improve later outcomes. Researchers from Canada used 12 clinical variables to predict the condition. The tool accurately predicted 75% of CP cases. The study was published January 17 in JAMA Pediatrics. The prevalence of CP in … Read more
A first-time mum cut off from hospitals has given birth to her first child during a six-day rain storm that has ravaged North Queensland. Key points: A new mum has given birth at a home in North Queensland after being cut off by floodwaters and landslides Two doctors and a registered nurse came to her … Read more
A heavily pregnant Gladstone woman has made an impassioned plea to the state government to fix the Central Queensland maternity crisis as she prepares to “dodge potholes” on the Bruce Highway to give birth about 100 kilometers away in Rockhampton. Key points: Gladstone Hospital can only offer elective caesarean because of a shortage of specialist … Read more
Doctors are demanding an emergency roundtable meeting to discuss Queensland’s maternity crisis amid fears mothers’ and babies’ lives will be at risk in the Gladstone region until the city’s birthing bypass is lifted. Key points: A recently retired anesthetist described maternity services in central Queensland as particularly “outrageous and dangerous” There are calls for an … Read more
Marine giants—such as blue and humpback whales—routinely make massive migrations across the ocean to breed and give birth in waters where predators are scarce, with many congregating year after year along the same stretches of coastline. Now, new research from a team of scientists—including researchers with the Smithsonian Institution, Vanderbilt University, the Natural History Museum … Read more
A performance artist who live-streamed attempts to conceive a baby through self-insemination has had a major legal victory after Australia’s premier arts-funding body was effectively ordered to hand over more documents about why it ripped funding from the controversial project. Key points: The Australia Council pulled funding for Casey Jenkins’ performance piece in 2020 Jenkins … Read more
DNA helped a Wellington woman track down her birth father. Photo / Supplied A New Zealand woman who embarked on a mission to find her birth father never expected to find the man – let alone find out he was a convicted bank robber in Canada. Heather Sumner, 66, was adopted and grew up in … Read more
Police crackdown on gangs extended, Three Waters entrenchment warnings were made & rare protests sweep China in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald More women have come forward with “nightmare” birth experiences after a first-time mum revealed she was forced to have her baby on the side of the road. One … Read more
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