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Mom Genes: Inside the New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct

byAbigail Tucker

Science writer Abigail Tucker explores the biology of motherhood and the dramatic changes pregnancy and caregiving can produce in the brain, hormones, behavior, and body. Animal research and human studies challenge the idea of one fixed maternal instinct, showing flexible responses shaped by genes, experience, partners, culture, and environment. Tucker combines scientific reporting with her own life as a mother, addressing attachment, anxiety, aggression, memory, and identity. The book presents motherhood as an ancient evolutionary system that continually adapts, rather than a natural script every woman automatically knows how to follow.

Publisher

Gallery Books

Publication date

2022

Format

Print edition

Pages

336

ISBN

9781501192876