Although the article dramatizes the conflict, the tug-of-war over resources is real, which probably is why the placenta is one of the fastest evolving mammalian organs in terms of morphology and genetics. The conflict probably shapes the rate of preterm birth quite a bit. If you are interested in this topic, my lab is looking to hire a database specialist (postgres) in Nashville.
Sorry to flog a job opening so shamelessly, but I'm a research scientist at Vanderbilt University working on the evolution of human pregnancy with an emphasis on identifying the causes of preterm birth. We are building a database to integrate a large number of experiments with various evolutionary analyses (with a dollop of machine learning on top), which will soon be available online at genestation.org.
We're looking to hire a full-time database admin/developer who finds biology interesting, but there is no need for formal training in biology.
