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Scientists carefully probe a placenta donated after birth, bluish umbilical cord still attached. This is the body's most mysterious organ, and inside lie clues about how it gives life — and how it can go awry, leading to stillbirth, preterm birth, even infections like the Zika virus, that somehow sneak past its protective barrier. In labs around the country, major research is underway to finally understand and monitor this floppy, bloody tissue that's often dismissed as the "afterbirth," the organ that lives about nine months and then gets thrown away. (Neergaard, 8/12)

A Round Rock-based nonprofit has received one of the state’s largest grants to provide women’s health care even though it doesn’t offer direct health services. The grant, announced Wednesday, has drawn fire from liberal groups who have questioned the Heidi Group’s qualifications and the anti-abortion advocacy of founder Carol Everett. (Chang, 8/11)

A new bill signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday will require certain city offices and service centers to provide a lactation room for nursing mothers to use at their choosing. In a news conference on Thursday, Mr. de Blasio — surrounded by several women holding babies — trumpeted New York as “one of the first cities in the country” to pass such a bill. Other cities with similar legislation include Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Madison, Wis. (Schmidt, 8/11)