Episode Details

Today we discuss how the pandemic has caused physical changes in the brains of teenagers, how geomagnetic disturbances can cause bird migration to go haywire, and why pregnancies in the US are a week and a half shorter on average than they are elsewhere. 

Pandemic Brain

• “Brain scans suggest the pandemic prematurely aged teens’ brains” by Freda Kreier
  • https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-pandemic-prematurely-aged-teens-brains
• “Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Brain Maturation in Adolescents: Implications for Analyzing Longitudinal Data” by Ian H. Gotlib et al.
  • https://www.bpsgos.org/article/S2667-1743(22)00142-2/fulltext
• “Why Do Some Brains Look Old Prematurely?” by Technology Networks
  • https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/why-do-some-brains-look-old-prematurely-355981#:~:text=Individuals%20can%20have%20brains%20that,bigger%20ventricles%20and%20thinner%20cortex.

Magnetic Migration 

• “When migrating birds go astray, disturbances in magnetic field may be partly to blame” by Holly Ober
  • https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/birds-vagrancy-geomagnetic-field
• “Geomagnetic disturbance associated with increased vagrancy in migratory landbirds” by Benjamin A. Tonelli et al.
  • https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26586-0

Short Pregnancies  

• Average Pregnancy Length Shorter in the US Than European Countries” by Molly Campbell
  • https://www.technologynetworks.com/diagnostics/news/average-pregnancy-length-shorter-in-the-us-than-european-countries-369484
• “The natural pattern of birth timing and gestational age in the U.S. compared to England, and the Netherlands” by Eugene Declercq et al.
  • https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278856
• “Average Pregnancy Length in the US Is Shorter than in European Countries” by University of Oxford
  • https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/news/2359-average-pregnancy-length-in-the-us-is-shorter-than-in-european-countries

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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/pandemic-brain-magnetic-migration-short-pregnancies