Growth Curve

Health & Medicine

Moms’ voices get big reactions in kids’ brains

Mothers’ voices get big responses in kids’ brains, a neural reaction that may lead to feelings of calm.

Health & Medicine

Researchers face off over whether newborns are really copycats

Scientists disagree about whether babies can imitate movements and facial expressions shortly after birth.

Health & Medicine

Here are a few more things for the childproofing list

Some seemingly safe objects may be particularly dangerous for little kids.

Health & Medicine

Here’s some slim science on temper tantrums

Scientists have mapped the structure of toddlers’ tantrums, but preventives are hard to come by.

Health & Medicine

Should C-section babies get wiped down with vagina microbes?

A study suggests that a post-birth rubdown with vaginal fluid offers starter microbes to babies born by C-section. But it might not always be a good idea.

Health & Medicine

The best advice on Zika virus and pregnancy is to know the unknowns

There are some practical steps pregnant women and women who want to be pregnant can take to minimize risk of Zika virus infection.

Health & Medicine

Noisy toys mute conversations

Electronic toys put a damper on the conversations between parents and babies.

Health & Medicine

Young infants have perceptual superpowers

Babies have superpowers that let them see and hear things that adults can’t.

Health & Medicine

Iron helps growing bodies, but could too much do harm?

Iron fortification has been a public health victory in the fight against childhood anemia. But too much iron may be a cause for concern, scientists propose.

Health & Medicine

Young babies live in a world unto themselves

Young babies don’t let information from the outside throw off their touch perception, a finding that has clues for how babies experience the world.

Health & Medicine

Why kids look funny when they run

Kids’ short legs give them little time to push high off the ground, a constraint that leads to the jerky toddler trot.

Health & Medicine

For kids learning new words, it’s all about context

By recording the first three years of life, researchers get hints about a child’s language development.