Your baby’s flinch when his sister screams feels alarming, and you want a clear answer about whether it harms him. A startled reaction is usually a normal reflex, not a sign of lasting damage, but ...

Since the day a baby is born, his or her body is pre-programmed with survival reflexes. One of these is the Moro reflex or the startle reflex, one of the numerous primitive reflexes of a newborn baby ...

The startle response is a sudden, reflex-like response to an unexpected stimulus, such as a loud noise or bright light. It is an unlearned and largely unconscious defense mechanism shared by animals ...

This story is from The Pulse, a weekly health and science podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes, I wish I had a sign on my chair, as if I were a ...