Many parents feel reassured when their child’s recurrent abdominal pain is investigated and no underlying organic condition is found. However, a study by researchers at Semmelweis University, published in the International Journal of Pediatrics, suggests that this may be when it is worth asking a few further questions: Does the child experience pain elsewhere in the body? Has the pain persisted for at least a year? If the answer to either question is yes, it may be a warning sign. 

An international research team led by Kumamoto University examined how AI can be responsibly integrated into education. A Delphi study involving 70 professionals from 18 countries identified five priorities: AI competencies, automated assessment and feedback, evolving teacher roles, trustworthy and explainable AI, and equal access. The study shares strategies of AI integration that requires coordinated action of policy makers, researchers and practitioners with attention to pedagogy, policy, infrastructure and equity.

A study of 320 lonely adults from 12 low-income neighborhoods found that prescriptions for time spent in nature significantly reduced symptoms of loneliness, with lasting impacts. Some countries are now pointing to "nature-based social prescribing" as an antidote to the global loneliness epidemic.

Children with intellectual disabilities face greater mental health difficulties when they are from a disadvantaged background, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

The anatomical differences in our vocal tracts could be one of the sources of our Tower of Babel—the vast difference in languages spoken around the world, according to a study published October 13^th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Steven Moran and Tiena Danner from the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and colleagues.

For the first time ever, Northwestern University researchers show how toddlers’ brains respond during natural moments of play with their parent or caregiver using child-friendly electroencephalography (EEG). Comparing those moments with periods spent watching a movie together, the study found that those playful, interactive moments are associated with increased brain activity linked to attention, learning and social processing.