For decades, one idea has shaped discussions about human evolution and birth: humans endure unusually difficult childbirth ...

Human birth has a reputation for danger. The usual explanation is simple enough: walking upright narrowed the pelvis, while evolution also favored babies with large ...

For centuries, childbirth’s pain was explained as punishment; more recently, as the evolutionary price of walking upright and bearing large-brained babies. But if difficult birth occurs across ...

Women who have been exposed to multiple traumatic experiences during childhood have more difficult births than others. They are much more likely to need emergency cesarean sections, suffer major ...

According to a new study, chimpanzees, like humans, must contend with a confined bony birth canal when giving birth. In humans, the problem was exacerbated by our unique form of upright walking since ...

Human childbirth is commonly viewed as uniquely difficult and dangerous. The reason: The combination of bipedalism and large brains creates a tight fit between the baby and the birth canal. Research ...