Opinion: ‘Grandmother effect’ helps explain human longevity
Even as we think of new ways to enhance the upbringing of our children, we should hold to some old ways and do what we can to keep alive the…
Not long after our first child was born, my wife and I contacted my mother in Pakistan to see if she could come and stay with us for a while in Durham, N.C., where I was training to be a cardiologist. We were overjoyed when she agreed. But when she arrived at the airport counter to collect her boarding pass, she learned that her valid visa had been unceremoniously cancelled without any reason given.
That she couldn’t come see her only granddaughter (and help out her parents) was devastating for all of us. But as two recent articles published in Current Biology show, the presence of grandmothers goes far beyond sentimental implications: They
