The Lancet has rightly drawn attention to the goals of reducing the burden of maternal and
childhood undernutrition, 1 focusing mainly on short-term outcomes such as infant survival …

Early experience has a particularly great effect on most organisms. Normal development
may be disrupted by early environmental influences; individuals that survive have to cope …

Many forms of developmental plasticity have been observed and these are usually
beneficial to the organism. The Predictive Adaptive Response (PAR) hypothesis refers to a …

Many plants and animals are capable of developing in a variety of ways, forming
characteristics that are well adapted to the environments in which they are likely to live. In …

What role does playful behaviour and playful thought take in animal and human
development? How does play relate to creativity and, in turn, to innovation? Unravelling the …

Animals may be careful in their choice of mates for a variety of reasons. The ideal mate may
have to hold valuable resources as well as being highly fertile or fecund. As likely as not, it …

Biology presents many wonders, but one of the most remarkable is how a complex
multicellular organism grows from a single cell. Until recently, the processes involved …

Judgements about pain and suffering in animals are required by the law of many countries
and by many professional guidelines. Nevertheless, such assessments raise many …

The general issue of sensitive periods in development is discussed. In the particular case of
imprinting, onset of sensitivity is influenced by a specific change in state. Sensitivity ends …

The broad pattern of an individual's social and sexual behaviour may also be determined
early in life, with the individual developing along one of two or more qualitatively different …