Pandemic Brain, Magnetic Migration, Short Pregnancies

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Science

4.6 • 963 Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery.
0:09.0	Time flies when you learn in super cool stuff.
0:11.0	I'm Nate.
0:12.0	And I'm Callie. If you're dropping in for the first time welcome to curiosity where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your mind.
0:18.4	If you're a loyal listener, welcome back.
0:20.8	Today you'll learn about how the pandemic has caused physical changes in the brains of teenagers,
0:26.6	how geomagnetic disturbances can cause bird migration to go haywire, and why pregnancies
0:32.4	in the US are a week and a half shorter on average
0:35.2	than they are elsewhere.
0:36.6	Without further ado, let's satisfy some curiosity.
0:40.1	So there's this famous saying that kids who act older than they actually are, are wise beyond their years.
0:46.7	But it turns out that most Gen Ziers do indeed have more mature brains, and it's because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
0:55.6	I mean that's not entirely surprising we had a global collective trauma because of the
1:01.3	pandemic. You're not wrong.
1:04.0	And the average kids these days went from a solid social structure in school
1:08.0	to a much more isolated online learning environment,
1:12.0	all while surrounded by endless news reports of
1:15.8	rising death tolls and economic instability. And for teenagers, it had to have been
1:20.7	worse because those are some of the most important years in any person's brain development.
1:25.6	Okay, that, I guess that makes sense even if it's a little bit grim, but what about the science behind it?
1:31.6	Okay, so a lot of what we just said is anecdotal,
1:34.5	but at this point, a lot of it is also now
	...

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