More sunshine as a baby linked to less disease activity for children with MS
Getting at least 30 minutes of daily summer sun in the first year of life may mean a lower relapse risk for children who are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) later, according to a new study. The...
View ArticleThe complicated question of how we determine who has an accent
How do you tell if someone has a particular accent? It might seem obvious: You hear someone pronounce words in a way that is different from 'normal' and connect it to other people from a specific...
View ArticleStudy maps new brain regions behind intended speech
Imagine seeing a furry, four-legged animal that meows. Mentally, you know what it is, but the word 'cat' is stuck on the tip of your tongue. This phenomenon, known as Broca's aphasia or expressive...
View ArticleGroup childcare positively affects toddler development
Many Japanese mothers are reluctant to send their children to childcare before the age of three due to the 'Three-Year-Old Myth,' which suggests that healthy development requires a child to stay at...
View ArticleLack of discussion drives traditional gender roles in parenthood
Conversations about parental duties continue to be led by mothers, even if both parents earn the same amount of money, finds a new study.
View ArticleA single protein may have helped shape the emergence of spoken language
How much does the evolution of human speech owe to one amino acid?
View ArticleLike human brains, large language models reason about diverse data in a...
Researchers find large language models process diverse types of data, like different languages, audio inputs, images, etc., similarly to how humans reason about complex problems. Like humans, LLMs...
View ArticlePromising results from first prenatal therapy for spinal muscular atrophy
Scientists report results from a promising new approach to treat the rare neurodegenerative disorder.
View ArticleAnother way longer paternity leaves help new parents
A longer paternity leave after the birth of a child can improve the co-parenting relationship between moms and dads in a key way, a new study finds. Researchers found that mothers were less likely to...
View ArticleChild ADHD risk linked to mother's use of acetaminophen
Fetal acetaminophen exposure increases the likelihood that a child will develop attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study.
View ArticleScreening and treating maternal psychological health key to improving...
Identifying and treating risk factors for depression, anxiety and other psychological health conditions during pregnancy and postpartum may improve short- and long-term health outcomes for both mother...
View ArticleHow parenthood may help keep your brain young
Researchers find that parents show patterns of brain connectivity that oppose age-related changes.
View ArticleWe need a new definition of dyslexia, research says
A new definition of dyslexia is needed to more accurately describe the learning disorder and give those struggling with dyslexia the specific support they require, says new research.
View ArticleAssociative learning: Primary school children outperform all other age groups
The ability to make the connection between an event and its consequences -- experts use the term associative learning -- is a crucial skill for adapting to the environment. It has a huge impact on our...
View ArticleHow many languages can you learn at the same time? -- Ghanaian babies grow up...
Africa is a multilingual continent and many adults speak several languages fluently. An empirical study by a psycholinguist now shows that the roots of this multilingualism can be found in infancy: In...
View ArticleImproving relationships between dads and daughters... it's a walk in the park
A simple walk in the park could hold the key to unlocking a close and loving relationship between fathers and daughters, a new study has shown.
View ArticleResearchers uncover blood metabolites that may influence early childhood...
Researchers have identified small molecules in the blood that may impact early childhood development, showing how dietary exposures, early life experiences, and gut health can influence a child's...
View ArticleIt's not just what you say -- it's also how you say it
First study to reveal the brain encodes pitch accents separately from the sounds that make up words. Heschl's gyrus region of the brain, an earlier stage of auditory processing, plays a much larger...
View ArticleA third of children worldwide forecast to be obese or overweight by 2050
Obesity rates are set to skyrocket, with one in six children and adolescents worldwide forecast to be obese by 2050, according to a new study. But with significant increases predicted within the next...
View ArticleFor some, childhood adversity can promote resilience to anxiety disorders
Research has shown that young people who face adversity such as traumatic or stressful events during brain development are 40% more likely to develop anxiety disorders by adulthood. But most people who...
View ArticleGenomics to revolutionize treatment of childhood rare diseases
A simple genomics blood test could improve treatment and care for childhood epilepsy, but more investment is needed to make access fair and securely join up the data, finds a new study.
View ArticleImproving school readiness for children with low birth weight
School readiness not only impacts kids' academic success, but also their long-term economic and health outcomes. Unfortunately, research reveals a concerning gap in school readiness for children with...
View ArticleLimiting screen time protects children's mental health
A recent study suggests that limiting screen time and promoting physical activity from childhood may help safeguard mental health in adolescence. The findings are particularly significant given that...
View ArticleDoes getting ADHD drugs via telehealth increase addiction risk?
A study of people who started ADHD stimulant treatment via telehealth vs in-person visits shows no difference in risk of new substance use disorders except for young adults age 26-34.
View ArticleStudy pinpoints the impact of prenatal stress across 27 weeks of pregnancy
Researchers found new insights on the timing of prenatal stress and its effect on infant stress reactivity and temperament -- including differences between genders.
View ArticleGood parenting helps, but has limits under major deprivation
Parenting skills can make a big difference in fostering a newborn's language acquisition and cognition, but there may be a limit to how far parenting can go to make up the challenges to developing this...
View ArticleChildren who lack fish in their diets are less sociable and kind, study finds
Children who consumed the least amounts of seafood at 7-years-old were likely to be less 'prosocial' at ages 7 and 9 years than those who regularly consumed seafood, according to a new study....
View ArticleWhat's in a label? It's different for boys vs. girls, new study of parents finds
Research has shown that adults instinctively think of men when asked to think of a person -- they describe the most 'typical' person they can imagine as male and assume storybook characters without a...
View ArticleDo you see what I see?
As a child, did it ever occur to you that your perception of color differed from that of others? It's quite common to have this thought, but it turns out that the human color experience may be more...
View ArticleOxytocin system of breastfeeding affected in mothers with postnatal depression
The oxytocin system -- which helps release breast milk and strengthens the bond between mother and baby -- may be affected during breastfeeding in mothers experiencing postnatal depression.
View ArticleNew AI model analyzes full night of sleep with high accuracy in largest study...
Researchers have developed a powerful AI tool, built on the same transformer architecture used by large language models like ChatGPT, to process an entire night's sleep. To date, it is one of the...
View ArticleBridging Nature and Nurture: Study reveals brain's flexible foundation from...
By studying never-before-seen details of brain connectivity in human infants, researchers have identified how a balance of innate structure and flexible learning produces our remarkably organized...
View ArticleWhen did human language emerge?
Humans' unique language capacity was present at least 135,000 years ago, according to a survey of genomic evidence. As such, language might have entered social use 100,000 years ago.
View ArticleParts of the brain that are needed to remember words identified
The parts of the brain that are needed to remember words, and how these are affected by a common form of epilepsy, have been identified by a team of neurologists and neurosurgeons at UCL.
View ArticleWhy don't we remember being a baby? New study provides clues
Though we learn so much during our first years of life, we can't, as adults, remember specific events from that time. Researchers have long believed we don't hold onto these experiences because the...
View ArticleHow family background can help lead to athletic success
Americans have long believed that sports are one area in society that offers kids from all backgrounds the chance to succeed to the best of their abilities. But new research suggests that this belief...
View ArticleTo the brain, Esperanto and Klingon appear the same as English or Mandarin
New research finds the brain's language-processing network also responds to artificial languages such as Esperanto and languages made for TV, such as Klingon on 'Star Trek' and High Valyrian and...
View ArticleWhy are night owls at greater risk of depression?
Mindfulness, total sleep quality, and alcohol consumption may help explain why people who stay up late have a greater risk of depression, according to a new study.
View ArticleInsomniac fruit fly mutants show enhanced memory despite severe sleep loss
Fruit fly mutants that have severe sleep deficits perform better at olfactory learning and memory tasks, according to a new study. The paradox of enhanced memory despite sleep loss could be explained...
View ArticleWhat does 'that' mean in 'Did you see that?'
What goes through your mind when someone asks 'Did you see that?' A study shows that children and adults process ambiguous information like 'that' differently. While children focus more on the literal...
View ArticleRepetitive behaviors and special interests are more indicative of an autism...
People with autism are typically diagnosed by clinical observation and assessment. To deconstruct the clinical decision process, which is often subjective and difficult to describe, researchers used a...
View ArticleMy robot therapist: The ethics of AI mental health chatbots for kids
AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use...
View ArticleExposure to air pollution in childhood is associated with reduced brain...
A new study has found that children exposed to higher levels of air pollution in early and mid childhood have weaker connections between key brain regions. The findings highlight the potential impact...
View ArticleUsing everyday products during pregnancy can affect newborn's metabolism,...
A newly published study found that a mother's exposure to phthalates during pregnancy can affect their newborn's metabolism and brain development. These widely used plasticizers are commonly found in a...
View ArticleCommon phrases, not fancy words, make you sound more fluent in a foreign...
Fluency in a foreign language is often thought to be about speaking quickly and using advanced vocabulary. However, researchers reveal that speakers who use common, everyday expressions sound more...
View ArticleSuccessful therapy confirmed for newborns with the fatal metabolic disorder...
Early administration of the drug Fosdenopterin/rcPMP improves the chances of survival of infants with MoCD type A and promotes the development of brain functions.
View ArticleFear of rejection influences how children conform to peers
The fear of rejection -- familiar to many children and adults -- can significantly impact how kids behave in their peer groups, according to new research.
View ArticleAn immune cell may explain how maternal inflammation causes...
A research group has uncovered a potential mechanism linking maternal inflammation to delayed neurodevelopment in infants. The research suggests the role of CD11c-positive microglia -- immune cells in...
View ArticlePerceiving one's own body: Babies sense their heartbeat and breathing
Body signals such as heartbeat and breathing accompany us constantly, often unnoticed as background noise of our perception. Even in the earliest years of life, these signals are important as they...
View ArticleDoes teamwork fulfill the goal of project-based learning?
A researcher investigated the impact of the group work environment on motivation in English as a second language classes. The study revealed that the group work environment plays an important role in...
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