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“Why do babies kick in the womb?” ShreeKilambi and Karthik, from Delhi Public School Secunderabad, ask. Once when Utsuka and Jigyasa were chatting with their curious friends, they happened upon the topic of babies! That’s when one of them wondered why babies kick when they are still in their mother's womb.

In the second episode of season 03 of IndiaAsksWhy, we learn about the development of bones in the unborn baby. We take a deep dive into how the bone-to-brain connection is tested out in the developing baby. The curious group also spoke to the developmental biologist,Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, from IIT Kanpur, to understand how one could possibly study developing bones in a lab!

We’re sure this conversation between the curious group would have made you curious, too. You can send your follow-up questions on our website, and we’ll pick them up :)

Please write to indiaaskswhy@gmail.com if you'd like your school to be involved with IndiaAsksWhy.

Illustration

References

1. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/babies-move-womb-why-bones-joints-development-scientists-discovery-pregnancy-a8263351.html

2. https://teachmeanatomy.info/lower-limb/joints/knee-joint/ BIOMECHANICS OF FOETAL MOVEMENT. N C Nowlan. European Cells and Materials Vol. 29, 2015 (pages 1-21) DOI:10.22203/eCM.v029a01

3. Chapter 15 - Fetal movement patterns and behavioural states. Gerard H A Visser, Eduard J H Mulder. Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. European Practice in Gynaecology and Obstetrics. 2009, Pages 271-284. doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-51829-3.00015-5

Credits

• Hosts: Shweata N. Hegde and Ruchi Manglunia
• Guest scientist: Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay
• Students: Karthik and Shree from Delhi Public School, Secunderabad
• Audio Editor: Kaviranjana Antony
• Transcriber: Khushi Goel