From, of all sources, New Statesman:
Questionable medical applications aside, the placenta is a marvel. You wouldn’t be here without it. Although scientists have been trying for decades to create artificial versions, they have failed miserably. Nothing we can engineer has come close to replicating the placenta’s ability to act as the kidney, lungs, hormone source, nutrition channel and waste disposal unit for a growing foetus.
That said, not all placentas are created equal. And yet we have no scientific definition of the ideal placenta, which makes it very hard to diagnose a faulty one. Placentas that have nurtured babies who have been born weak or sick often look entirely normal. Abnormal-looking placentas are frequently associated with healthy babies. The devil, it seems, is in the detail.
Sounds like the design of life to some of us.
The story is Darwin grovel-free.
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See also: The Science Fictions series at your fingertips (human evolution)