A spider may not sound like the ideal candidate for mother-of-the-year, but some eight-legged
species, like this one here are very caring moms.
Except instead of lending one, or eight, helping hands to their newborns, they lend their whole
body.
Just after hatching, the baby spiders slowly kill, and then devour their mother.
Don't say your mom never did anything for ya.
Their mom made the ultimate sacrifice, and inside of each of them, they carry a piece
of her . . . LITERALLY.
Luckily, our moms prefer MAKING food for their babies instead of BECOMING food for their
babies, but just like those spiders, you carry a little bit of your mom with you . . . LITERALLY.
As we develop in the womb, we're hard-wired to our moms.
Like most mammals, we're nourished and cleansed thanks to the organ we call the placenta.
But oxygen, nutrients, and waste aren't the only things that pass back and forth.
Every once in a while, one of the mother's blood cells will sneak its way through the
placental barrier and take up residence in the bloodstream of the fetus.
By the time that baby starts walking, its brand-new immune system has eliminated most
of those, but a few of mom's cells can stick around.
/ For a really long time / / / Like 50 years.
That means that right now, your mother is right there with you.
A small part of her anyway.
When cells from more than one individual intermingle and cohabitate in a single body, it's called
"microchimerism"
Even more cells pass across the placenta in the OTHER direction, from fetus to mom.
By the end of pregnancy, up to 6% of the DNA in a mother's blood stream belongs to her
child.
Some of your cells persist for the long haul, and right now, tiny colonies of YOU may exist
in your her body.
They say children are never far from a mother's mind.
Scientists have detected male cells in women's BRAINS, sometimes decades after their sons
were born.
They've EVEN detected male cells in women / who never had sons at all.
That's because cells can pass from child to mother even during pregnancies that aren't
carried to term.
This means that even in women who have experienced that most heart-breaking of losses, a little
bit of the child they never knew . . . lives on.
Your cells can do your mom a lot of good.
Stem cells smuggled across the placental barrier have been shown to help heal C-section scars,
repair damaged heart tissue, or even fight cancer.
So mothers, no matter where your child is, and children no matter how near / or far you
might be from mom . . . they're right there with you.
Stay curious.