Ricki Lewis

Anthony Weiner and Woody Allen have the same favorite organ; mine is the placenta.

The amazing placenta literally links generations, and if findings reported in the new Science Translational Medicine are validated, prenatal genetic screening and testing may become possible using Pap smears – as early as 5 weeks after conception. Read More 

“Some women actually have men on the brain” beckoned the headline from the LA Times on September 27, echoing an article in PLoS One describing the discovery of male fetal DNA in the brains of pregnant women. It was “an astonishing finding,” according to the newspaper, necessitating “a new paradigm of the biological self” according to lead author J. Lee Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington.

I suspect Dr. Nelson was quoted out of context, for the idea of two genetically distinct populations of cells, or their DNA, residing in one individual isn’t new. It’s called microchimerism. Read More