A placental origin story: what evolutionary biology can tell us, Conversation with Dr. Staudmauer, part 1

How the placenta develops and the ways in which that development affect both the mother and the pregnancy have been a mystery since pregnancy became a subject of study. Much of medicine focuses on the symptoms that come from pregnancy complications and tries to find a way to fix if not the problem, then the symptom.

Today's guest who looks at pregnancy with an evolutionary biology perspective that asks not only how the system works, but why the system works the way it does i.e. why are human placentas so invasive when other mammals have placentas that are not as invasive. Answers to the why questions can shape the ways in which we manage the how.

To find the paper we're discussion today, Cell ype and cell signalling innovations underlying mammalian pregnancy, see: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02748-x