This chapter examines a study from the University of Washington that reports on the pandemic's effects on teenage brain development, revealing significant differences between boys and girls. The findings show that girls experienced a dramatic acceleration in brain maturation, with their cortical thinning advancing by 4.2 years compared to a slight 1.4-year acceleration in boys.
Ian Sample and science correspondent Hannah Devlin discuss some of the science stories that have made headlines this week, from a new technique that uses food colouring to make skin transparent, to the first case of bird flu in a person with no known contact with sick animals, and a study looking at premature brain ageing in young people during Covid. Help support our independent journalism at
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