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Science

Fetuses Caught Yawning In 4D 117

Posted by timothy from the amniotic-and-insomniac dept.
Rambo Tribble writes "Reuters reports 4D scans have conclusively shown that fetuses do yawn. Understandable, eh? After all, all they get is cable."
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Fetuses Caught Yawning In 4D More

Fetuses Caught Yawning In 4D

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  • I think that takes the cake for "jokes I've seen on Slashdot stories" this year.

  • A terrible pun (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Someone needs to tag this story as "knee-slapper"

  • Incoming Abortion Flame War in 5...4...3...

    • Re:You've Touched The 3rd Rail!! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by interkin3tic ( 1469267 ) on Thursday November 22, 2012 @12:38PM (#42066649)
      Abortion third rail on slashdot? Please. Climate change, that's more of a third rail than abortion.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Why we all know organism yawn and have feeling. Cats yawn and cry if you kill them. But I have to with any rand on this one. Fetuses, like cats, have no rights

    • The study was performed on fetuses 24 to 36 weeks in gestation. Casual abortion on fetuses of that age is illegal almost everywhere. I don't think this will touch of an abortion debate amongst the mostly male population of Slashdot, who either a) have never had sex, b) will have long since run away from any woman they impregnated by that point, or c) I know this is inconceivable, accepted fatherhood and are preparing for a new geeklet.

      Of course on other sites with actual women, they may decry the lack of pa

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        If that were the pro-life stance I might listen to them. However, reailty steps in and they think killing live born babies who have survived an abortion after full term gestation should be allowed. I can't agree with that stance. Obama voted 4 times in IL to continue allowing babies who are born surviving an abortion to be killed. So you may not be in the pro-life camp, but I can assure you are no where near the pro-choice camp at all.

        Obama [wikipedia.org]

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • They don't hear it because the republicans (aside from Gingrich who has almost no creditably) don't speak about it. The same can be said about Catholic adoptions agencies that have to shut down in states that have legalized gay marriage.

            That story should have been the part of Ryan's response in the VP debate. It should have been advertised to show how extreme Obama's views were.

            In fact, I doubt anybody who gets their news from CNN or MSNBC have ever heard of that story but I'm sure they all heard of the i

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 )

          So you may not be in the pro-life camp, but I can assure you are no where near the pro-choice camp at all.

          Yes. Honestly I don't care about abortion as an issue at all. I consider it a wasteful but necessary solution to human failings. If it were made illegal tomorrow I wouldn't start a protest, I'd hope a funding model was established that didn't involve ME.

          On one hand, this is something the anti-Obama/anti-tax/"fiduciary responsibility" folks should have in mind (and why I can't bring myself to vote with

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Belial6 ( 794905 )

            - If you choose to have sex anyway, and do not want a child, use contraception. You twit. If you still get pregnant, a) legally the father should get hooked in and b) as an adult who is allowed to roam free and participate in society, you have to accept the consequences of your actions. If you cannot accept responsibility for your actions, you need to be locked up, I don't even want to drive on the same road as you.

            Now, if only women would be held to the same legal responsibility that men are.

          • - Aborting unwanted children means less children on welfare and medicaid
            - Aborting children with detectable birth defects means less children with expensive medical problems on the dole, and less money to spend on special-ed, etc. (I have such a sibling, I can speak to his medical bills and to how effectively his tea-party governor has cut him off in recent years)
            - Government enforced abortion of children of parents who are already on some form of welfare or assistance is a solution to a problem that Fox news trolls on about for hours whenever "soshulism" comes up

            Killing you in the most cruel manner possible the day you go on a pension would provide the exact same benefits, yet it sounds like a much better solution.

            As you say:

            Call me cold and heartless if you wish, I'm probably not on an individual basis, but when it comes to running a society the cute cuddly things we all tell each other starts to cost real money and we have to make calculated decisions. I don't approve of abortion at all, but I think it is in our collective best interests for it to be legal.

            Exactly. You can call me cold and heartless if you wish but I say you need to get executed. Tortured first of course. It is in our collective best interest !

            (here's hoping some sarcasm can make you see the light)

  • Adults yawn too... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ... when subjected to that much intrusive advertising. Clicked the article because I was really interested to see the video. First a full screen flash popover thing that completely obscured the page and forced me to find a 'close' button for it, and then a twelve second pre-video video. Screw it, close tab, I'll go somewhere else, and I'll also be wary of clicking links to reuters.com in future.

  • 4D? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Stiletto ( 12066 ) on Thursday November 22, 2012 @12:38PM (#42066643)

    WTF is "4D" supposed to mean when applied to ultrasound technology? They're 2D images of 3D objects. Can we finally measure the hyperfetus?

    • Re:4D? (Score:5, Informative)

      by dmbasso ( 1052166 ) on Thursday November 22, 2012 @12:44PM (#42066689)

      It is supposed to mean it has height, width, depth and time.

      • Man, I can't wait until video games get the technology to not just be viewable static 3d models.

        • Man, I can't wait until video games get the technology to not just be viewable static 3d models.

          I'll be impressed when they actually get 3D models, and not just a 2D representation of a 3D model (even stereoscopic displays aren't actually 3D).

          • And I'll be impressed when medical projections get 3d models and not a 2d representation of a "4d" model.

            See where I'm going with this? Just because the data exists doesn't make it unique.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by FreeUser ( 11483 )

        It is supposed to mean it has height, width, depth and time.

        By that definition, every "3D" movie we watch is actually "4D" (and I shudder to think how soon we'll probably see that marketing tripe in the wild).

        What's next? 5-D, because we shower the audience with water when it rains on screen too? Absolute bullshit. It's a 3d moving image.

        • Most "3D" movies are merely stereoscopic, containing no more data than two 2D movies, one slightly offset from the other. This "4D" movie would presumably allow zooming, changing camera angles, etc.
      • Does this mean my TV is 3D? It displays in height, width, and time.

    • Re:4D? (Score:4, Informative)

      by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Thursday November 22, 2012 @12:47PM (#42066723) Journal

      They're 2D images of 3D objects.

      Nope. Ultrasound gives complete depth measurements. So each time step is an (X,Y,Z) data cube (actually (theta,phy,time)->response ), where response is the magnitude of the received sound in the microphone. Therefore each elenment in the video is therefore the tuple (X, Y, Z, T)->some value, i.e. 4 dimensional.

      The video shown is just a projection, but ultrasound gives multiple depth readings, not just a single 2D manifold, so the raw data (obviously not the video here) is certainly 4D data.

      So yeah, ultrasound does provide full 4D data and the files are immense.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Viol8 ( 599362 )

        And everything still looks like an assortment of blobs surrounded by splotches and patches. An imaging system that requires training to be able to understand what you're seeing really isn't a very good one. Though I suppose its the best we have at the moment for the price.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Every "imaging system" is practically worthless without the knowledge to interpret the results. Images from say FISH-microscopy are equally incomprehensible to the layperson, though it looks pretty "because color". And only because you might actually know "oh, thats a knee on that x-ray" does not mean you will spot the arthrosis because e.g. the subchondral cysts will only be "blobs and splotches" to you.

          Mind you, ultrasound has become really good lately. You wouldn't want to see images from the eighties in

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by brunes69 ( 86786 )

        It's still a stupid naming convention. By that logic all 3D films are actually 4D films since they are not static pictures.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Nyder ( 754090 )

          It's still a stupid naming convention. By that logic all 3D films are actually 4D films since they are not static pictures.

          3D films are actually 2D, using tricks to seem like it has a 3rd Dimension.

          Broadway shows are actually 3D if you watch them live. If you seem them recorded, they are 2D.

    • Re:4D? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Jason Levine ( 196982 ) on Thursday November 22, 2012 @01:01PM (#42066819) Homepage

      The fetus has a tiny Delorian in there with it.

      "Won't I run into the Uterus' wall?"

      "You're not thinking Fourth Dimensionally."

      "Yeah, I have a real problem with that."

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by SuricouRaven ( 1897204 )

      2D is the standard slice ultrasound. 3D is the voxel view that shows three-dimensional structure. 4D is just 3D, but with a fast enough computer to update smoothly. Usually 2D is the most use for medical purposes, as a skilled operator can put together the image in their head and see much more internal structure - but for an unskilled viewer, they just look like formless blobs. 3D/4D are most often seen in relation to the abortion debate, where they are the bane of the pro-choice side who can't quite come u

  • And? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Paul Carver ( 4555 ) on Thursday November 22, 2012 @01:07PM (#42066855)

    So do dogs. Cats yawn too. I'm not sure about mice.

    What's the point of this story, is there some burning question as to what organisms yawn? A yawning controversy I haven't heard of perhaps? Or some prospective line of in inquiry into the science of yawning?

    This story seems like a puff piece devoid of any significant detail or content worth posting to Slashdot.

    • I don't think it's considered a breakthrough but I suspect there's a couple important aspects.

      I don't believe it's fully known why people yawn, but if babies are yawning in the womb than that could shed some light on the question.

      The authors suggest it could be used as an indicator of foetal health, it may not happen enough to be observed reliably, but there's always some value in an additional piece of data.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nyder ( 754090 )

      So do dogs. Cats yawn too. I'm not sure about mice.

      What's the point of this story, is there some burning question as to what organisms yawn? A yawning controversy I haven't heard of perhaps? Or some prospective line of in inquiry into the science of yawning?

      This story seems like a puff piece devoid of any significant detail or content worth posting to Slashdot.

      My cat sighs.

    • Well it is fairly interesting. Yawning (to me) is an activity which involves a large amount of inhaling and exhaling. Foetuses don't breathe, so that's kind of odd. Some people have mooted that yawning is a social (even socially learned) activity- the fact that foetuses can't have socially learned it is interesting too.

      Feeding it into the "is abortion OK" argument, though, is stupid.

      (Yes, mice do yawn by the way)

  • ...for the 4D ultrasound for our little guy when he was about 6 months along in July '11. It was a pretty incredible experience. I could tell he was gonna get my nose. And yeah, we saw him yawn - got a still picture of it, and the whole session was recorded to DVD.

  • Of course they yawn. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Have you ever heard a conversation between pregnant women/mothers? I'd like to see the 4D proof of one trying to block its ears.

  • I'm sitting here with my newborn daughter. And a couple of weeks ago we had this exact same ultrasound done. They handed me a picture that looked just like a single frame of this animation.

    And I couldn't help but think, "She looks like an end level boss from DOOM." Is it just me? These ultrasound pictures are somehow profoundly creepy. I could easily imagine something looking like that howling and throwing gigantic missiles at me.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nyder ( 754090 )

      I'm sitting here with my newborn daughter. ...And I couldn't help but think, "She looks like an end level boss from DOOM." ...

      This is what i got from your post.

      I suggest you tell her personality is important.

      • It may be needed, it may not. I am assured she is a beautiful baby, but I think all babies look like Winston Churchill.

  • Four years ago, five months before she was born, I saw my daughter yawn in a 4D sonogram.

    LK

  • A 30 second commercial for a 16 second video... seriously?
  • It can yawn. It can move. Is it life or not?

  • I Yawned just by reading the title of this post. (Its not that im not interested in the subject matter - just reading the word Yawn did it!) am i alone ?

  • Open your mind.....

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