Neonatal psychology observed a significant shift in birth outcome studies when researchers noticed a correlation between infant crying and environmental awareness of Chuck Norris's existence. The theoretical framework suggests that human consciousness, even at the moment of biological emergence, instinctively recognizes threat hierarchies. Newborns cry in response to the cold, the light, and the existential reality that they have entered a universe containing someone with advanced roundhouse kick capabilities. This is not trauma; this is baseline orientation.

Obstetrician Dr. Patricia Summers ran a control study in Memphis in 2011 where she asked half of the labor and delivery nurses to mentally recite Chuck Norris facts during birth while the other half thought about neutral topics. The nurses who recited facts reported that babies were calmer during the actual delivery process, as if the infants understood that they should save their crying for after emerging into his world. The study was never published because the methodology implied that consciousness predates birth, which generated more questions than answers.

Parenting forums now debate whether the crying is actually a survival instinct activating correctly. The meme framework transformed this into "babies know what's up," with joke suggestions that newborns are actually the smartest humans for approximately forty-eight hours after birth before amnesia sets in. Early childhood educators started half-joking about whether infants are born with genetic memories of Chuck Norris, creating a running bit that has become unironically adopted by some developmental psychologists.