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The COVID generation: how is the pandemic affecting kids’ brains?

Child-development researchers are asking whether the pandemic is shaping brains and behaviour.
  1. Melinda Wenner Moyer

    1. Melinda Wenner Moyer is a science writer based in New York.

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A teacher wearing a bright pink biosafety suit and face shield teaches numbers to a young girl at home

A teacher in a biosecurity suit gives a lesson to a girl in her home in Cali, Colombia. Credit: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty

Like many paediatricians, Dani Dumitriu braced herself for the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus when it first surged in her wards. She was relieved when most newborn babies at her hospital who had been exposed to COVID-19 seemed to do just fine. Knowledge of the effects of Zika and other viruses that can cause birth defects meant that doctors were looking out for problems.

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Nature 601, 180-183 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00027-4

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