Stay Curious

SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND UNLOCK ONE MORE ARTICLE FOR FREE.

Sign Up

VIEW OUR Privacy Policy


Discover Magazine Logo

WANT MORE? KEEP READING FOR AS LOW AS $1.99!

Subscribe

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

FIND MY SUBSCRIPTION
Advertisement

Sex and Control

What do you do if a lot of the struggle takes place at a molecular level and neither person knows it?

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

As most newlyweds quickly learn, intimate relationships, even the most blissful, can buzz with tension. Couples typically find themselves struggling over money, in-laws, ex-lovers, and how much the woman's placenta should grow when she gets pregnant. That last one is a killer. The guy wants his woman to have a fast-growing placenta, while the woman does all she can to keep it down to a reasonable size.

Of course, the fight over the placenta doesn’t exactly take place out in the open. The average man, if asked what he thinks of his wife’s placenta, would probably say he hasn’t given it a thought. Instead the placenta conflict gets played out, unbeknownst to either person, inside the woman’s body. A trange genetic process called gene imprinting is responsible. And their existence is only one small example of how males and females have conflicting evolutionary goals. Understanding that the struggle takes place ...

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe
Advertisement

0 Free Articles