The process of maintaining optimal conditions for development, especially keeping eggs warm before hatching or allowing ideas to develop gradually.
From Latin 'incubare' meaning to lie upon or brood over eggs. Extended metaphorically to mean any period of development or gestation, including business incubation and creative processes.
Emperor penguins have the most extreme incubation ritual in nature—males balance eggs on their feet under a flap of warm skin for 64 days in Antarctic winter, losing up to 45% of their body weight while waiting for the chicks to hatch.
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