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LiveScience
LiveScience
Jules Howard

'I have never written of a stranger organ': The rise of the placenta and how it helped make us human

Brain Pregnancy Menopause
Old engraved illustration of human placenta on a black background.

In this adapted excerpt from "Infinite Life: The Story of Eggs, Evolution, and Life on Earth," (Pegasus Books, 2024) author Jules Howard examines the invasiveness of the placenta — how far it permeates into the wall of the uterus and the maternal tissue — in mammals after the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck.

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