Children Help Their Mothers for Decades

Itninja writes "NPR reported this morning on some interesting findings regarding mothers and their children. From the article: 'Some scientists have proposed that when a woman has a baby, she gets not just a son or a daughter, but a gift of cells that stays behind and protects her for the rest of her life. That's because a baby's cells linger in its mom's body for decades and -- like stem cells -- may help to repair damage when she gets sick. It's such an enticing idea that even the scientists who came up with the idea worry that it may be too beautiful to be true.'"

Comments

Would this explain..

[Some_Llama]

Women usually live longer than men, would this help explain why? I always thought it might have more to do with roles in society, men doing "harder" more dangerous work (although I for one can attest that being a mother, and raising children is certainly not "easy") causing men to die earlier in life, but this study might show that if all other things being equal, women might have a leg up... if they had borne children?