spynotes ::
  March 14, 2006
And the Stating The Obvious in Journalism Award goes to �

�Harvard evolutionary biologist David Haig as cited by Carl Zimmer in �Silent Struggle: A New Theory of Pregnancy� in today�s Science Times section of The New York Times:

�Pregnancy is absolutely central to reproduction��

Yes, folks, we needed a Harvard biologist to tell us that.

Actually, it�s kind of an interesting article about the evolutionary struggle between mother and fetus. Haig started thinking about how dangerous pregnancy is compared to other functions of the body and tried out evolutionary theory � a struggle for survival � and a lot of his theories turned out to be corroborated by biological evidence.

* * * * *

I took AJ for his kindergarten screening today, which was held in the preschool room of a nearby church. He saw a series of different people for a series of different tests. In between, he played with another little boy. They built a road together and drove cars all over them. Behind the box of road sections, he found one of those wheeled push toys that popped up balls noisily as he pushed it across the carpet. He never had one of these when he was learning to walk, but he has always liked the looks of them. He was happily pretending to mow the carpet when the other boy noticed what he was doing. �You can�t play with that, that�s a baby toy. If you play with it, you�re going to turn into a baby in a few minutes.�

AJ pondered this for a minute and then gave the toy one more push and abandoned it, returning to the cars. After the boy left, he picked up the toy again.

His report is kind of funny. The percentile column is a long list of 99s. That was no big surprise. It was one of the reasons we were there. We were also there for two other reasons � to assess his speech and to figure out who our contacts at his school should be. We met the school�s psychologist, social worker and one of the kindergarten teachers and all seems positive. We have some plans, some resources, and some reassurance that all will be well next year.

11 people said it like they meant it

 
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