War in the Womb (2014)

"When scientists tried to gestate mice outside the womb, they expected the embryos to wither, deprived of the surface that had evolved to nurture them. To their shock they found instead that – implanted in the brain, testis or eye of a mouse – the embryo went wild. Placental cells rampaged through surrounding tissues, slaughtering everything in their path as they hunted for arteries to sate their thirst for nutrients. It’s no accident that many of the same genes active in embryonic development have been implicated in cancer. Pregnancy is a lot more like war than we might care to admit."

I found this paragraph particularly interesting. Squared with the claim later on that increased access to blood and nutrients might be responsible for our large brains, I wonder if it might be possible to create ultra intelligent mammals by allowing unfettered access to nutrients.

From the same author of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16463069

Needs (2014) tag.

Kinda important because some people like me read it when it was first published and it would be nice to know whether it's a new article or a different one adding new information.

Previous discussion can be found through the 'past' link.