Climate Change Is Messing with Babies’ Brains Before They’re Born

A new study has found that climate disasters can shape a child’s brain even before birth. Researchers at Queens College, City University of New York, looked at brain scans of children whose mothers were pregnant during Superstorm Sandy, which slammed New York in 2012. The study, published in PLOS One, showed that the storm—and the heatwaves that came before it—may have caused neurological changes linked to emotional development issues.

Children exposed in the womb to both Sandy and high temperatures had increased volume in their basal ganglia, a part of the brain that regulates emotion. According to lead author Donato DeIngeniis, this could be the brain’s way of compensating for stress—but it may also raise the risk of mental health issues such as depression or autism.

The study is the first to examine how multiple climate stressors combine to affect fetal brain development. It follows a growing body of research connecting prenatal stress to long-term health impacts. According to co-author Yoko Nomura, the fetal brain grows rapidly and is extremely sensitive, making that developmental stage particularly vulnerable.

Duke Shereen, director of the MRI facility at CUNY, said the findings are “compelling evidence that the climate crisis is not just an environmental emergency, it is potentially a neurological one.” Rising sea levels and warmer oceans—which worsened Sandy—are just part of the growing number of stressors linked to Climate change, like wildfires, toxic smoke, and record heat.

The original reporting by Kate Yoder for Grist highlights an important shift in understanding: the climate crisis isn’t only about the future of the planet—it’s about the future of our children’s minds.

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