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Parents find ways to bond with their premature babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

[...]the potential of future technologies in this area are found equally in engineering and product development laboratories or in care settings pioneering the use of assistive robotics, for example. The Perinatal Life Support project, coordinated by the Eindhoven University of Technology, is developing a perinatal life support system with the aim of potentially providing premature infants with a supply of oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical cord and an artificial placenta. [...]research aims to address premature infant death or the neurological or developmental complications that can be an outcome of extreme prematurity. In her view, “science fiction is the dress rehearsal for social change”.

Even though the new baby of Mr. and Mrs. Brains is very intelligent, they realize that he is still just a baby.

Although speculative fiction has been variously defined as a subgenre of science fiction, a distinct genre, or a super-category for all non-mimetic genres, I am particularly interested in the notion that it explores the possible, without necessarily relying heavily on technological or scientific details, but rather extrapolates from philosophical or political realities and expands their scope. Judith Merril gives us a strong and productive definition here: 'a special sort of contemporary writing which makes use of fantastic or inventive elements to comment on, or speculate about, society, humanity, life, the cosmos, reality. And any other topic under the general heading of philosophy' (Merril 1967: 3). But I would also propose that speculative fiction might be thought of as a mode of writing. This would be analogous to the way in which elegy is not a poetic form, but a poetic mode, in which certain kinds of dynamics are played out and explored. In the examples that follow, I argue that this is what takes place. But I also argue that speculative fictions which explore women's reproductive rights have distinct approaches to speculation, and that they can, on being read closely, help us to further define the mode of speculative fiction.There are two further elements to the definition of speculative fiction which I would like to propose. One comes from the etymology of the word 'speculate' itself, which can be traced back to the following roots: speculari ('to spy out' or 'to examine'); specularis ('like a mirror'); and specula ('watchtower'). All three of these imply looking at what already exists in reality, but either examining it closely or watching from a distance, as it comes towards us or moves away. I want to bear these dynamics in mind as a way of thinking about speculative fiction. The second set of definitions that are very useful relate to Darko Suvin's notion of the novum and his concept of cognitive estrangement'. Whilst Suvin's discussion could be considered dated, it remains a seminal set of conceptual frameworks for thinking about science fiction and speculative fiction. Taking his cue from the Russian Formalists, he proposes cognitive estrangement as vital to science fiction: 'SF is, then, a literary genre whose necessity and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition, and whose main formal device is an imaginative framework alternative to the author's empirical environment (Suvin 1979: 6-7; italics in original). Suvin also proposes the term novum or 'strange newness' as an element of any science fiction (4). This estrangement is at least partly about presenting the world in such a way that even elements of it that already exist seem unfamiliar and, thus, draws attention to them. For speculative fiction which explores reproduction, I would like to offer a different slant on these concepts. Maternal dystopias offer the reader a bodily estrangement as well as a cognitive one, where the reproductive body becomes a site of estrangement both to the characters and their readers. I would also offer the notion of the verum as a slightly different version of the novum, not 'new strangeness' but 'true strangeness' of the already known. This is a deliberately political proposal in that it pertains to disempowered groups and refers to a truth that is already obvious, but culturally neglected. Again, this relates very closely to the maternal dystopian texts I will discuss, and signals that they will not contain strong elements of unknown or new science or any great detail in terms of unrealistic world building.

Photographs and simple text present a group of babies finding their feet, playing patty-cake, eating, hugging, and more.

[Marisa Silver]'s debut collection of short stories, \"Babe in Paradise,\" is peopled by housebreakers, eavesdroppers, carjackers, baby sellers, pornographers, bad parents and others who consider the social contract optional. And that's just the humans. Nature adds other transgressors: birds that nest inside houses, rats that hide inside walls, fires that devour homes. In other words, boundary problems abound. Silver's women in particular foster no illusions about sex, intimacy or any other human connection--although they often exhibit a dark humor. \"Romeo's here,\" says a woman about to go on her first date in years. \"Let's just hope he's not a complete psycho.\" Their relations with men tend to be a confusing mix of desire and revulsion; in love, the female characters are often harsh, dissociated and given to cruelty. In \"Gunsmoke,\" Alice sleeps with an old boyfriend: \"Neither one of us makes a noise or looks the other in the eye,\" she says. Mariana in \"The Missing\" keeps an eye on her beeper during sex. In \"Statues,\" a young actress, whose boyfriend admires a former porn actress-turned-movie star, impulsively makes her own short porn film--in front of him. At 16, Babe, who appears in three of the nine stories, sleeps with the man who drives the Goodwill truck: \"[S]he knew the emotions she had for him were not love, and that someone who encouraged such feelings of disgust and petulant wanting did not love her either.\" Later, she'll kick him in the head with the hard toe of her boot. Occasionally, Silver hits a wrong note--a character teaches in \"a rough part of Glendale,\" for example; where, exactly, could that be? Silver's prose could also use a good tidying up: There are too many stray words and phrases and gratuitous explanations, and some stories are overly long, with too much dramatized or explained.

What sounds will wake up the new baby?

Drawing on Black/feminist concepts from scholars such as bell hooks, Hortense Spillers, and Cheryl L. Harris, this article critically examines the role of media institutions in perpetuating and reinforcing dominant power structures. Across genre, media serves as a tool for maintaining hegemonic whiteness. Through an analysis of three media texts— Orphan Black, The Baby-Sitters Club , and Marry Me —I analyze the disturbing media trend of the deliberate erasure of Black mothering across genre. In each of these works, mixed-race children are used as a proxy for diversity without actually providing the corresponding cultural context. In this way, these texts highlight the failure of what Kristin Warner calls \"plastic representation.\" Ultimately, the article underscores the need for greater diversity and equity in all levels of media creation.

\"Babies may not be walking but they are always on the go! They ride, slide, fly, cruise, and roll-- joining in with family activities throughout each fun-filled day\"--Front jacket flap.

In 2011, seven thousand American \"baby boomers\" (those born between 1946 and 1964) turned sixty-five daily. As this largest U.S. generation ages, cities, municipalities, and governments at every level must grapple with the allocation of resources and funding for maintaining the quality of life, health, and standard of living for an aging population. InThe New Neighborhood Senior Center, Joyce Weil uses in-depth ethnographic methods to examine a working-class senior center in Queens, New York. She explores the ways in which social structure directly affects the lives of older Americans and traces the role of political, social, and economic institutions and neighborhood processes in the decision to close such centers throughout the city of New York. Many policy makers and gerontologists advocate a concept of \"aging in place,\" whereby the communities in which these older residents live provide access to resources that foster and maintain their independence. But all \"aging in place\" is not equal and the success of such efforts depends heavily upon the social class and availability of resources in any given community. Senior centers, expanded in part by funding from federal programs in the 1970s, were designed as focal points in the provision of community-based services. However, for the first wave of \"boomers,\" the role of these centers has come to be questioned. Declining government support has led to the closings of many centers, even as the remaining centers are beginning to \"rebrand\" to attract the boomer generation. However,The New Neighborhood Senior Centerdemonstrates the need to balance what the boomers' want from centers with the needs of frailer or more vulnerable elders who rely on the services of senior centers on a daily basis. Weil challenges readers to consider what changes in social policies are needed to support or supplement senior centers and the functions they serve.