cover image How Life Begins:: The Science of Life in the Womb

How Life Begins:: The Science of Life in the Womb

Christopher Vaughan. Crown Publishers, $23 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8129-2103-8

The human infant can hear, feel and see before it leaves the womb, and the fetus even seems to have a sense of taste. Around day 26 after conception, the embryo initiates dramatic progress in the process of forming a face. By the end of the third month, the fetus is moving vigorously, even though the mother can't feel the movement. In a crystal-clear synthesis emphasizing the last two decades of research, this captivating primer reenacts an incredible journey we all have taken but forgotten--the first nine months of life inside the womb. Vaughan, a biomedical editor at Cambridge University Press, explains how the fetus ``practically commandeers the mother's body,'' tailoring her responses to promote energy storage and manipulating her immune system to override the forces that the body usually launches against invaders. Along the way he discusses genetic influences on personality, sudden infant death syndrome, causes of infertility, current fertilization techniques and the newborn's adjustment to the outer world. An informative guide for expectant parents and the scientifically curious. Illustrations. (Feb.)