News & Updates

Zika virus infects and crosses the placentas of pregnant mice and causes severe damage or death in fetal mice, report scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health.

NICHD has launched an observational study of pregnant women in Brazil to help improve understanding of the effects of Zika virus infection on reproductive health and the developing fetus. The study augments an existing project in Brazil on cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection during pregnancy, expanding the project’s scope to include Zika virus.

Infants exposed to more than one language may be better able than their monolingual counterparts to see a situation from another point of view, according to a study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, a rare genetic disease that disrupts the nervous system and can lead to microcephaly and other brain defects, appears to result from a buildup of a cholesterol precursor, according to a new study by NICHD researchers.

The loss of neurons that is a hallmark of Niemann-Pick disease type C1 (NPC1) appears to result from a cell death process called necroptosis, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Fetal mice exposed in the uterus to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s primary psychoactive ingredient, lose a key subset of neurons, according to a new study by NICHD researchers.

Violence is a leading cause of death for people 10 to 24 years old in the United States. In addition, nearly a million young people are treated for injuries each year as a result of physical violence, sexual assault, bullying, or self-harm. Youth violence also can cause long-term emotional and psychological harm.

Following advice to sleep in the same room with their infants —but not in the same bed—does not appear to discourage new mothers from breastfeeding, as some experts had feared, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

NICHD needs your input for NIH’s All of Us program.

Children from low income environments appear to have a higher risk of neurological impairment than those from more economically secure circumstances, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) helps children overcome the devastating effects of a hereditary brain disorder by helping one protein fill in for a disabled protein, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other institutions.

As part of the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), the National Institutes of Health announced that it will fund the development of three innovative co-robots—robots that work cooperatively with people.

Sleep plays an important role in memory, attention, emotional well-being, and overall physical health. In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advised middle and high schools to change their start times to 8:30 a.m. or later to enable students to get the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep on school nights.

The National Institutes of Health has launched a new initiative to identify biomarkers and track the progression of Alzheimer’s in people with Down syndrome.

As a person with Down syndrome, David Egan has made it his mission to fulfill his own potential and to help other people with Down syndrome fulfill theirs. Here he discusses his work, his belief in the power of research, and his hopes for the future.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month, an opportunity to spread awareness and enhance understanding of Down syndrome, a congenital disorder in people who have an extra 21st chromosome.

Brain scans taken of newborns who received cooling treatment after blood or oxygen deprivation to the brain can predict the extent of a child’s recovery by 6 or 7 years of age, according to a study by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research network.

An instructional program for parents helps young children retain the literacy skills and positive learning behaviors acquired in Head Start through to the end of the kindergarten year, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Fetuses with enlarged ventricles—the fluid-filled cavities inside the brain—may be less likely than their counterparts to benefit from surgery in the womb to treat spina bifida, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Wale Olukanmi has spent more than two decades as an oncology nurse and physician's assistant at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. As a medical practitioner and father of four, he thought he was well-informed about the health risks and pitfalls of parenting. Then, he completed an all-day training on safe infant sleep practices, where he learned about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the leading cause of death in babies one month to one year of age, and about other sleep-related infant deaths, such as suffocation.