Medicine: Birthday Predicter

To prove pregnancy in its early stages, obstetricians generally use a simple urine test. In the Aschheim-Zondek test, they inject a female mouse with a urine specimen; in the Friedman test (faster and easier to read), a virgin doe rabbit gets the injection. If the patient is pregnant, hormones in the urine produce easily detectable changes in the animal's ovaries. The Friedman test, which takes two days to complete, can spot pregnancy with 98% accuracy* ten days after the first missed period.

Last week, a University of California researcher reported that he had discovered a new blood test for pregnancy. Dr. Ernest...

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