'The sound of a baby cry captures your attention in a way that few other sounds in the environment generally do,' said Katie Young of the University of Oxford, who led the study looking at how the brain processes a baby's cries. Ever wondered why it is so difficult to ignore the sound of a crying baby when you are trapped aboard a train or aeroplane? Scientists have found that our brains are hard-wired to respond strongly to the sound, making us more attentive and priming our bodies to help whenever we hear it – even if we're not the baby's parents.
