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Letter: Babies get their way

Published 7 September 2005

From Michael Lieber, University of California, Los Angeles

Your article on babies’ cells “colonising” mothers’ brains suggests that these are repair cells (20 August, p 8). Could there be an alternative or additional purpose, such as rewiring to change maternal behaviour? Something similar occurs in insects infected with certain parasites, though I am unaware of this occurring in mammals.

Los Angeles, California, US

Issue no. 2516 published 10 September 2005

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