Question: What is exactly a placenta black-box?

Theresia Mina answered on 10 Nov 2014:

Hello there,

It’s just the phrase that I created as I feel that there are still many things we don’t quite understand about placenta. Scientists in this field tend to link mother’s factors with baby outcome but they often forget that placenta is present to protect the baby. Sometimes they point out that there is something “not quite right” with the placenta, but they often miss out (because it is complicated) to explain why the placenta has become “not quite right” and as a result has not been able to do its duty properly at the first place, resulting in poor baby outcome…