The placenta is an organ that connects the developing fetus to the uterine wall to allow nutrient uptake, waste elimination, and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply. "True" placentas are a defining characteristic of eutherian or "placental" mammals, but are also found in some snakes and lizards with varying levels of development up to mammalian levels. Note, however, that the homology of such structures in various viviparous organisms is debatable at best and, in invertebrates such as Arthropoda, is definitely analogous at best. However, a recent publication describes what amounts to a phylogenetically analogous, but physiologically and functionally almost identical structure in a skink. In some senses it is not particularly surprising, because many species are ovoviviparous and some are known as examples of various degrees of viviparous matrotrophy. However, the latest example is the most extreme to date, of a purely reptilian placenta directly comparable to a eutherian placenta.

Joel Stein (born July 23, 1971) is an American journalist who wrote for the Los Angeles Times and is a regular contributor to Time.

Stein grew up in Edison, New Jersey. He was raised Jewish. Stein attended J. P. Stevens High School, where he was a writer and entertainment editor for Hawkeye, the student newspaper. He majored in English at Stanford University and wrote a weekly column for the school's student newspaper, The Stanford Daily. He graduated in 1993 with a BA and an MA and moved to New York City, and then to Los Angeles in 2005.

Stein's career began as a writer and researcher for Martha Stewart Living. He worked a year for Stewart and later quipped that she had fired him twice in the same day. Stein did fact-checking at various publications before becoming a sports editor and columnist for Time Out New York, where he stayed for two years. While working at Time Out New York, he was a contestant on MTV's short-lived game show Idiot Savants. Stein joined Time in August 1997.

Stein sometimes appears as a commentator on television programs such as I Love the '80s. He also co-produced three TV pilots: an animated series for VH1 and two for ABC. The animated show, titled Hey Joel, aired in Canada and later in South Africa, while the other two were never picked up. He was a writer and producer for the sitcom Crumbs.

Cliff Martinez (born February 5, 1954) is an American film score composer and former drummer known for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart. Martinez's film scores include, Drive, Contagion and Traffic.

On April 14, 2012, Martinez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse. At the time, however, he was more interested in rock bands, and played drums in a variety of them, mostly in a temporary capacity.

After several years drumming for such acts as Captain Beefheart, The Dickies, Lydia Lunch and The Weirdos, in late 1983, he and Jack Sherman were drafted in to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the recording of their eponymous first album after Jack Irons and Hillel Slovak left the band to concentrate on their other project at the time, What Is This? Eventually, tensions between Sherman and his fellow band members culminated in Sherman being fired and Slovak returning for the second album, Freaky Styley. Irons however, was still committed to What Is This?, so Martinez again stepped behind the kit for the recording of Freaky Styley and its subsequent tour. During the recording of demos for the third album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, the rest of the band felt that the drummer's 'heart was no longer in the band', but as he wouldn't quit Anthony Kiedis and Flea fired him, and Irons returned.