Babies - We all start out our lives as one. Babies are small, loud, often stinky and have a habit of making their parents look like walking zombies after just a few weeks. Yet, for all the trouble these little ones cause they do possess some incredible powers. In fact, these powers were once possessed by all of us. That's right. While they appear to be helpless, babies are, in fact, just a few stages away from qualifying for full X-men status. Don't believe us?
Telepathy: Ok, while this isn't full-on telepathy it is pretty amazing. You see, with little life experience and zero language skills, infants show an incredible ability to pick up on facial and body language to decipher what sort of mood you're in. Happy, sad, frustrated - babies know and studies show they pick up on it very fast. As we get older, this is an ability we actually lose and instead must often resort to asking the person how they are feeling.
Super Sight: It turns out that around six months of age we have the most amazing eye-sight and brain analysis ability ever. As proof of this, researchers took a herd of babies - were pretty sure that's the technical term, and showed them all sorts of faces belonging to monkeys and humans. While you or I today would have trouble telling the difference between two very similar monkey faces. As a six-month-old we be able to tell the differences every time. In a nutshell, babies have an incredible facial recognition ability that significantly degrades as we get older.
Cat-Like Hearing: When we're born we have an absolutely amazing sense of hearing. We can pick up on conversations all around us and even hear faint sounds an adult would never pick up on. Why? Researchers say it's linked to our ancestors when hearing was a key sense for survival. Like all other baby super powers, this amazingly sensitive ability degrades quickly as we prioritize certain sounds over others. The result is that as we age many sounds are ignored by our brain as non-essential. This explains why we have so much trouble listening to our parents and teachers as we get older.
Mutant Metabolism: Sure babies are all pudgy and fat looking - but this is just part of another super power. In actuality, babies are born with something called "Brown Fat" we all have it, but babies have more. This is actually a very special tissue which helps burn up regular fat an incredible rate. The added bonus power here is that the whole process also creates a vast amount of heat something newborns need to stay warm. In fact, it gives babies their very own ability to regulate their heat levels, something adults can't really do without a sweater or some blankets.
Einstein Brain-Power: You wouldn't really consider a baby to be smart. After all, they put anything in their mouths and they spoil themselves regularly. Yet, they have extremely powerful brains. In fact, compared with full-grown adults, infants can have upwards to three-times the number of synapses in their brains. This means an infant has the ability to soak up mountains of information and knowledge at a rate that would leave an adult genius frustrated and crying - like a baby - on the floor.
Super Healing: Even before you were born you possess the X-Men like ability of healing. No, we're not talking about the kind of healing that requires a band-aid her stitches. In actuality, when inside their mother, the fetus can send its cells to help heal her. That's right. If for example, of baby senses that a certain organ of its mom's is damaged, research has shown that will send a surge of stem cells on a mission to repair the damage. Unfortunately that power ends the moment you are born.
Aqua Babies: Babies can't swim - that's a fact. If they could there would be tons of swim instructors around the country out of a job. Yet, if a baby of around six months or younger gets submerged it's not necessarily an emergency. That's because they possess the ability to close their wind-pipe and open their eyes underwater. Something many adults have trouble doing on the best of days. Interestingly, this reflex disappears after six months , so we suggest you hold off on trying to recreate that cover shot from Nirvana's Nevermind album.
Justice League: As a baby, not only could you tell the difference between good and bad behavior, but research has shown we all actually preferred to side with the good-doers. Like mini Batman and wonder women, studies of babies just a few months old showed not only the preference for the good guys, but also a desire to see bad behavior punished. Given the age of the babies it is clear this is not a learned behavior but something we're all just born with. Now if only that included the cool outfits and weapons, we'd be all set.
Animal Awareness: If you've ever looked on youtube then you may have seen the array of videos showing a baby playing and laughing with a dog. Even if it's a "scary" Doberman bouncing around and barking the baby tends to laugh and show no fear. Why? No, it's not because babies are dumb - but the opposite. Even with no previous experience, a six-month-old can tell the difference in various dog barks and what they mean. This ability to be a dog-whisperer vanishes with age for most of us meaning babies are probably the best doggy-interpreters around.
Mind Control: What's able to attract flocks of people with just the smile? What can steal pretty much anything and not get in an ounce of trouble? A baby - that's what. But how? As a baby you possess the incredible power of altering people's minds to see things differently in public, your smile and giant eyes emitted some sort of "come here" signal that attracted complete strangers. If you took something that didn't belong to you people thought it was cute and non-threatening. As an adult, if you stare at people or steal you're in for a tough time. Yet, as a baby you possessed a power every super villain would die for.
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