The cognitive health and development of boys may be affected by their mothers’ body mass index (BMI) (体重指数) while pregnant with them, according to research from Columbia University and the University of Texas at Austin.

The study, which was published in the journal BMC Pediatrics on Friday, observed 368 subjects from low-income African American and Dominican women during the second half of their pregnancies, and then evaluated their children three and seven years later. Researchers found that the sons of women whose BMIs indicated that they were overweight or obese when they became pregnant were more likely to show less developed athletic skills as 3-year-olds and lower intelligence as 7-year-olds compared to boys whose mothers were at “normal” weights during pregnancy.

Among boys, the study found, mothers’ overweight and obesity connected with IQ scores between 4.6 and almost 9 points lower than those of boys whose mothers’ weights were in the “normal” range before pregnancy. Researchers did not observe the same phenomenon among daughters whose mothers had been obese.

“These findings aren’t meant to shame or scare anyone,” Elizabeth Widen, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at UT Austin and one of the study’s co-authors, said in a press release. “We are just beginning to understand some of these interactions between mothers’ weight and the health of their babies.”

Why mothers’ obesity appeared to affect childhood IQ was unclear, but earlier research has suggested that there is a relationship between a mother’s diet and her child’s later IQ, according to Columbia University. Researchers did not control for what the mothers ate, the press release noted.

The study’s authors wrote that because childhood IQ has been shown to be an indicator of later success in life, studying how a mother’s obesity could affect the IQ of her child is worthwhile.

Are you right-handed or left-handed? Have you ever wondered why?

With 10% of all humans being left-handed, lefties have been looked down upon as being unlucky. In the past, left-handers were thought to be strange, and left-handedness was thought to be caused by how anxious a pregnant (怀孕的) woman was during her pregnancy. However, we might now be closer to discovering the genetic reasons behind handedness.

We know that the human body is made up of cells, each of which contains a nucleus (细胞核). Inside the nucleus are thread-like structures called chromosomes (染色体) which can be stretched out to what is known as DNA. Sections of this DNA are referred to as genes — one section of DNA would show clearly your hair color and others, the shape of your nose!

The University of Oxford research team examined the genomes (基因组) of 400,000 volunteers in the UK Biobank, of whom 38,332 were left-handed. The team discovered four genetic regions, three of which had proteins (蛋白质) that play a key role in the formation of the physical structure of the cells.

By studying the brain scans of 9000 volunteers, researchers noticed that in people who were left-handed, the left and right halves of their brain that dealt with language worked in a much more intentionally matched manner. This led them to conclude that the genetic differences they had observed in left-handed people were responsible for differences in the white matter that connects language regions of the brain.

The team also found that the regions of left-handers’ brains that set them apart from right-handers gave them a slightly higher chance of getting some mental diseases, but a slightly lower chance of getting Parkinson’s disease. This study is the first to find a link between handedness, genes, and the language areas of the brains.

Gina Kiroff was a very creative child. “I loved helping my mom create dishes and the process of cooking with her, seasoning, changing the form of ingredients (原料) and using different skills. All ended up with a finished dish,” says Kiroff.

Kiroff took that creation into her job. She joined Unilever leading marketing of many different foods and other products. Now, her focus is to help to take steps towards carrying out regenerative (再生的) practices for the ingredients used in their products.

The importance of creating and keeping healthy soil has taken a leading position. In 2013 the United Nations General Assembly recognized World Soil Day, which is celebrated yearly on December 5th. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 95% of our food comes from soil. However, 33% of soils’ quality has been reduced. And over the last 70 years, the quantity of nutrients (营养物的量) in food has greatly dropped off.

In honor of World Soil Day and to know about what the food industry can do to help keep healthy agricultural practices to improve food safety, Kiroff was joined by former White House cook Sam Kass at a special dinner to show the power of regenerative agriculture. “The dinner you are about to eat costs $72 tonight. In 2050, this exact same meal will cost $566 as there will not be enough of the ingredients that we can depend on, which makes me worried,” said Kass.

Kass and Kiroff explained how rice and other key ingredients would likely become rarities (稀缺品), if we continued to carry out today’s traditional agricultural practices. “If we stay on our existing path, our kids and grandkids won’t be able to enjoy what we’re eating here,” said Kass. “Our duty is to make nutritious food accessible to everyone, everywhere.”