Carnegie Mellon University and University of California, San Francisco researchers have found that childhood trauma, poverty, social isolation and other adverse life experiences are associated with brain changes linked to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders—findings that could help researchers identify people at risk earlier and develop interventions before severe symptoms emerge. Read more ›
People who carry genetic variations linked to obesity are more likely to be heavier now than individuals with the same variants who were born before the recent obesity epidemic. Liam Wright of University College London and colleagues report these findings in the journal PLOS Genetics. Read more ›
New field research examines the morning stress hormone patterns of Palestinian boys living in conflict zones, revealing how chronic political violence shapes early childhood biology and daily psychological strain. Read more ›
The experiences we face early in life may leave their marks on our health in ways that echo across decades—and even across the entire body. A new study, published in the journal Science, examined a unique group of free-living rhesus macaques that have been followed their entire lives to document their experiences. Read more ›
A smile. A frown. The faces a child pays closer attention to might offer insight into their mental health. Depression may shape how much children pay attention to emotional expressions—sad or happy faces—and those changes appear to depend on whether the child has a family history of depression, according to a first-of-its-kind study from Binghamton University, State University of New York. Read more ›