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dc.contributor.advisorAlan Lightman.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGlausser, Anne O. (Anne O'Brien)en_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2010-04-28T17:03:28Z
dc.date.available2010-04-28T17:03:28Z
dc.date.copyright2009en_US
dc.date.issued2009en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/54572
dc.descriptionThesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2009.en_US
dc.descriptionCataloged from PDF version of thesis.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 37-42).en_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis, written for a popular audience, explores the many facets of the placenta, an organ that facilitates the growth of the fetus during pregnancy. It looks at what happens when the placenta dodges the hospital incinerator-taking on a second purpose, a second life. Once the placenta is expelled during the third stage of labor, once it has served its role in the body and is facing retirement, it can take on whole new forms of usefulness. Humans, artful at manipulating the materials of life, have created new-and often controversial-purposes for this discard tissue after it has served its primary role: expelled placenta is used in eye surgery, in training dogs to sniff dead bodies, in toxicology research, in forensics, in cosmetics, and, most significantly, in an emerging field of stem cell research. From ritual use to research subject to health treatment, we have taken the placenta from the realm of the dead and given it new vigor.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Anne O. Glausser.en_US
dc.format.extent42 p.en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582en_US
dc.subjectGraduate Program in Science Writing.en_US
dc.titleThe placenta's second lifeen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreeS.M.in Science Writingen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writingen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies
dc.identifier.oclc567779304en_US


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