49 days

[wine]

Buddhists believe it takes 49 days for a soul to be reincarnated.

 

Scientists figured out that on the 49th day of pregnancy the fetus's sex is able to be determined. Also on this day, a chemical called DMT is first introduced into the body. (Source: Dr. Strassman's work)

 

How .. mysterious.

[CraigD]

Scientists figured out that on the 49th day of pregnancy the fetus's sex is able to be determined

I don’t think there’s anything especially significant about day 49 in determining the sex of a human fetus.

 

If you’re willing to go to the trouble to microscopically observe the moment of fertilization, you can determine the sex of the just-fertilized egg – the zygote - at nearly the instant of fertilization, about 8 days before the technical beginning of pregnancy (when it implants itself on the uterus). You can determine sex chromosomally when the fertilized egg – now a many-celled blastocyst - is a few days old.

 

The main difficulty with all these techniques is finding the microscopic egg/zygote/blastocyst/embryo, so they’re only practical with in vitro (“test tube”) fertilization.

 

The earliest a fetus (what comes after an embryo) can be sexed by an expert via direct visual inspection (with an endoscope) or via ultrasound or other imaging (by spotting the penis) is about 40 days. With each day, it gets easier. Using a decent ultrasound unit, an average clinician or observant layman can make the determination by about 120 days.

Also on this day, a chemical called DMT is first introduced into the body.

Dimethyltryptamine’s a highly motile neurotransmiter found naturally in the human body. Like the similar, more common, and more important molecule serotonin, it can pass both the brain-blood barrier and the placental barrier, so an embryo/fetus is exposed to DMT and many other neurotransmitters even before it has a nervous system to use them.

 

I think the number 49 gets it’s religious and symbolic significance from being the “magic” number 7, times 7.

[wine]

Precisely what I was hoping for, thank you CraigD.

[Buffy]

To put it in a song, wine:

 

49 reasons, all in a line, :)

Buffy

[wine]

Just wanted some scientific clarification, of course. :]