Penny Sarchet

speaker

1,050 appearances 18 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 2d ago

Penny Sarchet’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 18 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 6.

Appearances

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The World, the Universe and Us · The Mystery of Childbirth Is Finally Being Unravelled · 16 Sep 2026 podcast

also really helpless and hard to look voice-verified

Yeah, exactly. voice-verified

And this is a famous explanation for why human childbirth is so painful and also dangerous. voice-verified

A lot of mothers die. voice-verified

And it also suggests we're giving birth earlier while our baby still can get out voice-verified

to infants that aren't as well developed as they'd ideally be. voice-verified

But actually, it turns out it may not be as clear cut as all voice-verified

So one idea that I think is quite interesting is another explanation that centers on metabolism. voice-verified

This is a more recent idea, and it suggests that we grow our babies inside us until we literally can't sustain them anymore. voice-verified

They become too much of a burden on a voice-verified

fair. voice-verified

It's so sort of disappointing because I think it's an interesting idea. voice-verified

But in recent years, there have been a few studies that sort of tried to determine how big of an energetic demand a late-stage fetus places on the mother. voice-verified

And the evidence doesn't really seem to be stacking up in favor of this hypothesis. voice-verified

Yes and no. voice-verified

So I think it is clear that our narrower pelvis has made childbirth more painful and more dangerous. voice-verified

is really like a live issue at the moment. voice-verified

It has sort of been cited as an example of really fast evolution. voice-verified

do see sections and it's removed this selective pressure. voice-verified

But actually it might be something else and it might actually be positive selection for narrower pelvises. voice-verified

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