Children – Impact Lab

Enhancing Early Language Development: Passive Auditory Exposure Shapes Infant Brain Networks

August 17, 2023

While the positive influence of music and speech on babies’ learning capabilities is widely acknowledged, emerging evidence underscores the intricate role of specific auditory cues in infants’ environments in shaping language processing networks within their developing brains.

Renowned researcher April Benasich, an authority on early brain plasticity and infant language and cognitive development, has shed light on a groundbreaking discovery. Through a series of passive exposures to brief non-speech sounds administered weekly for six weeks, infants exhibited heightened accuracy in identifying and distinguishing syllables. Moreover, these exposed infants demonstrated superior language scores at 12 and 18 months, a marked contrast from their counterparts who lacked this auditory exposure.

Children

Exclusive: Concept Unveiled for the World’s First Artificial Womb Facility

December 19, 2022

BY MARCIA WENDORF

In late 2021, Elon Musk tweeted his fears about the end of humanity. “We should be much more worried about population collapse….If there aren’t enough people for Earth, then there definitely won’t be enough for Mars,” he opined. Musk’s statements brought the world’s falling birthrate to the forefront of social consciousness.

For nearly a century, fertility rates have been decreasing globally. The result is what scientists are describing as a “worldwide infertility crisis.” But there’s a solution looming on the horizon — artificial wombs.

In 2017, scientists created a “BioBag” that functioned as an artificial womb, and they used it to grow a baby lamb. Now, a new concept has been unveiled exclusively to Science and Stuff showing how the same could be done for humans. In recently released footage, Hashem Al-Ghaili shows what childbirth might look like tomorrow. Specifically, he created an artificial womb facility named EctoLife.

Its purpose? In an exclusive interview with Science and Stuff, Al-Ghaili says he thinks the EctoLife concept could one day supplant traditional birth. In so doing, he said society would finally be able to meet the needs of parents who are “tired of waiting for a response from an adoption agency” and those who are “worried about pregnancy complications.” But most importantly, he says EctoLife could allow us to confront the infertility crisis head-on.

Children

Where Will the World’s Next 1,000 Babies Be Born?

September 13, 2022

By Pratap Vardhan

Every four minutes, approximately 1,000 babies are born across the globe. But in which countries are these babies the most statistically likely to come from?

Using data from the CIA World Factbook, this graphic by Pratap Vardhan (Stats of India) paints a picture of the world’s demographics, showing which countries are most likely to welcome the next 1,000 babies based on population and birth rates as of 2022 estimates.

Children

1 in 4 young adults live with a parent, grandparent or older sibling, research shows

August 10, 2022

In this Friday, April 13, 2012 photo, Kelly, left, and Bill Noorish walk around a model a Lennar Next-Gen multigenerational home, in Las Vegas.

The percentage of young adults living with parents, grandparents, or older siblings or roommates has nearly tripled since 1971, new data from the Pew Research Center shows.

In a 2021 survey of nearly 10,000 Americans, one in four adults from ages 25 to 34 lived in a “multigenerational family household” — defined as a household of adults 25 and older that includes two or more generations. About 9% of adults had these living circumstances in 1971, the report said.

While most young adults in multigenerational households lived in households led by one (39%) or two parents (47%) — the most common arrangements — about 14% lived in a household headed by someone other than a parent, such as a grandparent, sibling, roommate or an unmarried partner.

In contrast, 15% of young adults had at least one parent who had moved in with them, according to Pew.

Finances and caregiving are the driving factors behind multigenerational households, the survey found, and there is also a correlation between education level and those who live in multigenerational households.

From 1971 to 2021, multigenerational living doubled to 16% among young adults with at least a bachelor’s degree, while it tripled to 31% among young adults who only finished high school.

In 1971, the rates of multigenerational living were similar among all young adults regardless of education level.

A separate Pew study found that 37% of men from ages 25 to 29 lived in a multigenerational household in 2021, compared to 26% of women in that age range.

Children, Science & Technology News

India says nationwide birthrates drop below key ‘replacement rate’

December 16, 2021

Children play at a waterlogged street near a residential area after heavy monsoon rainfall in Chennai, India, on Nov. 12.

By Gerry Shih

India’s population growth is losing steam as the average number of children born crossed below a key threshold, according to newly released data from a government survey.

India’s most recent National Family Health Survey, which is conducted every five years by the Health Ministry, was released Wednesday and showed the total fertility rate (TFR) across India dropping to 2.0 in 2019-2021, compared with 2.2 in 2015-2016. A country with a TFR of 2.1, known as the replacement rate, would maintain a stable population over time; a lower TFR means the population would decrease in the absence of other factors, such as immigration.

The figures were hailed as a heartening signal by government officials and researchers in a country that is expected to overtake China to become the world’s most populous sometime this decade. Since the mid-20th century, Indian leaders have tried to curb high birthrates, which are often reversely correlated with women’s welfare metrics and economic progress. A burgeoning population is seen, in the longer term, as a hurdle to development and a driver of environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions.

Children, Science & Technology News

South Korea’s population paradox

July 17, 2021

By Miriam Quick

With a rapidly ageing population, low birth rates and young people who are increasingly shunning marriage, South Korea is in a population conundrum.

When countries undergo economic change, the effects of the transition aren’t only financial – they have major population implications, too.

This is very much the case in South Korea where, over the last three generations, the country has evolved like few others due to rapid industrialisation. Today, South Korea has a $1.6 trillion economy – the fourth largest in Asia after China, Japan and India.

As South Korea has transformed so too has its population, and very quickly at that, leaving the country in a true population paradox.

Children, Dating, Human Behavior, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

‘I wanted to meet a mate and have a baby without wasting time’: the rise of platonic co-parenting

November 13, 2020

Jenica Anderson and Stephan DuVal, with their daughter.

They’re ready to start a family, but can’t wait for The One. As ‘mating’ sites boom under lockdown, we meet those hoping for a better way to raise a child

When Jenica Anderson and Stephan DuVal clicked on one another’s online profile on Modamily.com – tagline “A new way to family” – neither was looking for romance. They were both in their late 30s, and their short bios indicated that they shared similar views on health and education, had solid incomes and were searching for the same thing: a non-romantic partner to have – and raise – a child with. A co-parent.

Anderson, 38, a geologist from Montana, US, had matched with and spoken to 10 different men, mostly via so-called mating sites – matchmaking sites for people who want a baby without a romantic relationship – when she had her first phone call with DuVal, from Vancouver, Canada, in spring 2019. Their conversations quickly started to run into the night and, that June, she flew out to spend the weekend with him. They talked, went hiking and jumped into a lake together. “It felt like a date,” says DuVal, 37, a camera operator. “Except we could be totally honest about wanting to have a kid soon, without the goofiness and flirting of a first date. You’re looking to achieve a common goal.”

Continue reading… “‘I wanted to meet a mate and have a baby without wasting time’: the rise of platonic co-parenting”

Children, Human Behavior, Legal Issues, Science & Technology News

The US should brace itself for a “national wave of fertility fraud”

October 12, 2020

A new field of litigation has evolved in the United State: denouncing fertility fraud. In the latest episode, a nation-wide firm, Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway, announced that it was pursuing two fertility doctors who allegedly used their own sperm a generation ago to get women pregnant and without informing them.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, according to Adam Wolf, the lawyer handling the cases. He claims that hundreds of fertility fraud cases will emerge across the US as people begin to investigate their geneology using home DNA testing kits.

In the first case, a San Francisco woman discovered that both of her children were the offspring of her fertility doctor, Dr Michael S. Kiken. Furthermore, through Kiken, the children are carriers of Tay Sachs disease.

In the second case a San Diego woman sought the help of Dr Philip Milgram in 1988 for artificial insemination, which resulted in the birth of their son. Milgram told her that he had used the sperm of a healthy and anonymous sperm donor — but he allegedly used his own instead.

Continue reading… “The US should brace itself for a “national wave of fertility fraud””

Children, Human Behavior, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News

The rise of the 3-parent family

October 5, 2020

The typical path to parenthood didn’t work for David Jay, a founder of the asexual movement. So he designed his own household—and is trying to show others what is possible.

David Jay is the oldest of 12 cousins on one side of his family and the third-oldest of 24 cousins on the other. As a kid, family to Jay meant having a lot of people around, a feeling of community, and crucially, a sense of permanence, that these people would always be in his life. Later, as an adult living in collective housing, he could access the feeling of family with those around him, but the permanence was gone. His roommates started finding romantic partners, having children, and dispersing. Jay had always wanted his own family with kids—and had known, for almost as long, that he wouldn’t be able to build one the usual way.

Jay is the founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network and one of the most prominent people in the asexual movement. (Asexual people, or aces, don’t experience sexual attraction, though many do have sex and form romantic relationships.) After starting AVEN as a freshman at Wesleyan University in 2001, Jay spent years explaining asexuality to the public, speaking at events and talking to the press. As he grew older, the questions on his mind moved beyond identity and attraction to issues of parenting and family life.

The problem for Jay was never how babies are made, and fostering and adoption were options. The problem was that he wanted kids and also wanted a co-parent to help him raise kids, but wasn’t interested in romantic partnership. Before exploring single parenthood, he was curious whether there might be another way to form the family he wanted.

Continue reading… “The rise of the 3-parent family”

Children, Coronavirus, Games, Science & Technology News

Kids in the UK are now spending more money on ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Roblox’ than candy and books

September 29, 2020

Childrens’ spending habits in the UK have shifted to online games such as “Roblox” and “Fortnite” since lockdown began, away from sweets and books, a pocket money app has reported.

Kids are also saving 14% more money than they did in 2019 — that’s £104 ($135) a year, RoosterMoney.

Lego, Roblox, and Apple are the top three brands that children save up for, the study found.
Online video games “Fortnite” and “Roblox” have overtaken sweets and books as the main target of kids’ pocket money spending in the UK, according to a pocket money app.

A study by RoosterMoney of 24,000 kids in the UK aged between four and 14 had Roblox, a virtual gaming platform, in top spot, followed by Epic Games’ “Fortnite,” a battle-royale video game.

Continue reading… “Kids in the UK are now spending more money on ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Roblox’ than candy and books”

Children, Coronavirus, Education, Parenting, Science & Technology News

As wealthy parents turn to ‘pandemic pods,’ startups aim to make them equitable

September 16, 2020

Affluent families were quick to explore pandemic pods as an alternative to solitary virtual school. Now, startups are looking for ways to make the model available to all.

In certain communities across America, learning pods, or pandemic pods, have become all the rage. Parents eager to offer their children socialization and some form of in-person instruction (and working parents simply eager to solve the problem of child care) are banding together to turn basements, garages, and living rooms into minischools for half a dozen families. Some families are hiring a teacher to supervise and lead activities, and some are relying on one another. Most plan to maintain enrollment in traditional school and use the pod as a supplement.

Almost as soon as learning pods emerged as a trend, concerns about equity followed. Not every family has the resources to hire a private teacher, and not every family lives in a community where homes have extra space for desks, bean bags, and art supplies. Indeed, in many cases, families are grappling with far more essential challenges, such as putting food on the table or finding stable shelter. In New York City alone, 114,000 children are homeless.

But for a growing number of entrepreneurs, that resource imbalance is a problem to be solved, not a reason to give up on learning pods entirely. They argue that with the right approach to design and funding, learning pods could become a solution that works for everyone.

Continue reading… “As wealthy parents turn to ‘pandemic pods,’ startups aim to make them equitable”

Children, Coronavirus, Education, Science & Technology News

‘Schoolcations’ are the latest hotel trend to attract remote learners

September 8, 2020

As the nation’s children head back to school, it’s clear that for many, the school year will be like none before.

With many students learning remotely, some families are looking at ways to take advantage of what might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to take their families out of their hometown and on vacation at a time of year when it would typically not be practical. It’s a silver lining in what many parents think will be a difficult year ahead.

Hotels in the U.S. and Mexico are offering distance-learning vacations with everything from dedicated “classroom” space to private tutors to tech support.

Continue reading… “‘Schoolcations’ are the latest hotel trend to attract remote learners”