Why aren’t babies just little adults?

But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids

Vermont Public

Nature, Language, Kids & Family, Science

4.4 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why are babies small and grownups big? Why are babies so helpless, instead of little versions of adults? Do babies know they're babies? How do babies grow? How do babies learn to talk?

Kids have been sending us lots of questions about babies! This week we're learning more about the development of the human brain with Celeste Kidd, professor of psychology and primary investigator at the Kidd Lab at the University of California Berkeley.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Jane. Before we get started, I want to talk to you about supporting, but why?
0:05.4	On May 1st and 2nd, public media lovers nationwide will come together to celebrate public media
0:10.9	giving days. You can do your part by sharing your favorite episode of But Why with a friend
0:15.9	or family member. And grownups, you can show support by donating at But Why Kids.org-donate
0:23.3	on May 2nd. Everyone who donates $5 or more on May 2nd will get a 3 pack of stickers
0:29.6	from Vermont Public, our home station. And one of them is a But Why sticker, so you can show
0:34.2	your love of the show everywhere you go. Thanks for supporting But Why and public media in our region.
0:39.7	We can answer questions because of generous people like you.
0:59.6	This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public. I'm Jane Lindholm. On this show,
1:11.3	kids ask the questions and we find the answers. Now, it will probably not surprise you to know that
1:19.2	I'm not a kid, but I still kind of remember what it felt like to be a kid. And I remember that
1:25.7	sometimes when I was little, my friends and I found adults a little baffling or confusing.
1:32.3	Sometimes the way adults behaved, it just didn't make sense to us. But let me tell you something.
1:38.5	Adults sometimes feel the same way about kids. We look at you and wonder, why are you doing that?
1:48.4	But you usually make sense to yourself, right? Same for adults. I think some of you have already
1:55.4	kind of forgotten what it was like to be a baby because you've been sending us a lot of curious
2:00.6	questions about why babies do the things they do and what babies might be thinking and even if babies
2:08.5	know their babies. It makes sense that you'd be wondering about babies because even though the younger
2:15.6	you are the closer you are to having been a baby, it's really hard to remember what it was actually
2:21.7	like when you were one. The way the human brain develops most memories from when you were a baby
2:29.0	or even a young child don't stick. When you're an adult, you probably won't remember much from before
2:35.6	you were about age six or seven. So we're going to try to answer some of the questions you've sent
	...

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