I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Organs Zone. It has scientists studying health and disease in various parts of our bodies. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
Wow…ummm…Hannah?
I think the simple answer is no…the baby would have to still be in the membranous sac in order to be protected….and the umbilical cord would still have to be attached to the placenta…which has to still be attached to the mother. And there are all sorts of complications involved in having a baby on the outside and an umbilical cord running up to the placenta….the mind boggles at the image.
I think we’re still a little way away from growing babies in fake uteruses. Which is unfortunate…pregnancy wasn’t my favourite time, and I’d love my husband to take a turn!
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Why would you even think about this is beyond me asimmon1.
To humor you, I’ll answer by saying whilst it’s theoretically possible it’s most likely not plausible. I’m sure you know that that the baby gets the nutrients etc from its mother. What it also gets by being in the uterus is protections of the environment, i.e. heat, anti-bodies/immune system protection and many more things.
The more I think about it, the more I realise it’s a silly question.
I’ll leave my answer as whilst theoretically possible, it’s not probable/plausible, not to mention unethical!
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Hey asimmon1 that’s a really interesting question,
I have no idea if it’s possible for a fetus to develop outside of the mother (ex-utero), I think you would need to know what stage of development the baby is (ie. late gestation that would mean it is an example of a baby born prematurely). I’d be interested in finding out more about if this is possible but as Yashar mentioned- there would be ethical implications!
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Hey, nice question! And in my area of expertise!
An unborn baby can grow outside the mother EVEN without the umbilical cord attached, and this is what we call pre-term birth. After about 24 weeks (40 weeks is the full length of time a baby grows inside the woman), a baby can be born and survive without being attached to the mother. There are A LOT of risks and ideally, you want to keep the baby inside for 40 weeks. Brain and lung function are not complete so the baby can’t breath by itself until between 27 and 30 weeks, and babies born pre-term often suffer neurological defects.
The very best place for a baby to grow is attached to the mother, and inside her body, but we are very lucky that in the last 30 or so years, we have been able to significantly improve the health of babies born early.
Best to keep it in there as long as possible is the answer, you really don’t want to grow it on the outside!
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Yay for Hannah!
I once read a book about babies growing in test tubes. It was very much science fiction but an interesting concept all the same.
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