Inheritance
Radiolab
00:00
What's Happening When Mums Lick Their Pups?
Licking activates the release of adranlin and nordrinlin in the pup. Those two chemicals kick off certain hormonal systems, one of them called the thyroid system. Thyroid hormons then get into the brain and they turn on certain neuro chemical signals. So almost instantaneously, the mother's tongue has reached into the baby's brain cells. Inside these cells, in the center, coiled up in little spools, is the d ana. That's the stuff that makes you you.
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