Exposure to multiple extreme climate events during pregnancy may have a cumulative effect on child brain development
A new study looks at the impact of in utero exposure to both extreme heat and a natural disaster
image:
Neuroimaging research lead prepares MRI scanner for child brain imaging study.
view moreCredit: Credit: Rebecca M. Lee and Abid Fahim
NEW YORK, June 11, 2025 — Climate disasters may be leaving invisible imprints on developing brains before birth, according to new groundbreaking research from The City University of New York Graduate Center (CUNY Graduate Center) and Queens College. Scientists discovered that children whose mothers experienced Superstorm Sandy during pregnancy showed distinct brain differences that could affect their emotional development for years to come.
The study, published in PLOS One, reveals that prenatal exposure to extreme climate events, particularly when combined with extreme heat, appears to rewrite critical emotion regulation centers in the developing brain.
"We're seeing how climate change may be reshaping the next generation's brains before they even take their first breath," said lead author Donato DeIngeniis, a CUNY Graduate Center Psychology Ph.D. student. "These children's brains bear invisible scars from climate disasters they never personally experienced."
Climate Change in the Womb
The research team analyzed brain imaging data from a group of 8-year-old children whose mothers were pregnant during Superstorm Sandy, which devastated parts of New York and other coastal regions in 2012. The scans revealed that children exposed to the storm in utero had significantly larger volumes in the basal ganglia, deep brain structures involved in emotion regulation.
"The combination of storm stress and extreme heat created a perfect neurological storm in developing brains," explained Professor Yoko Nomura, principal investigator of the Stress in Pregnancy (SIP) Study and Psychology professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and Queens College. "We found that while extreme heat alone didn't significantly alter brain volume, when combined with the stress of living through a major storm during pregnancy, it amplified the effects dramatically."
The research involved MRI scans of 34 children, comparing those exposed to the storm and/or extreme heat (defined as at least one day above 95°F during pregnancy) to those who were not. The findings could have profound implications for children growing up in regions increasingly affected by climate change.
Lifelong Effects
“As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, we need to consider the invisible toll on future generations,” DeIngeniis noted. “Our findings suggest we must develop targeted interventions to support pregnant women during climate disasters and strengthen climate resilience in vulnerable communities."
Duke Shereen, Ph.D., director of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging facility at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center and a co-author of the study, emphasized the long-term implications of the findings: "These imaging techniques allow us to visualize how environmental stressors can cascade through maternal experience to alter the architecture of the developing brain. What we are seeing is compelling evidence that the climate crisis is not just an environmental emergency, it is potentially a neurological one with consequence for future generations who will inherit our planet.”
About the Graduate Center of The City University of New York The CUNY Graduate Center is a leader in public graduate education devoted to enhancing the public good through pioneering research, serious learning, and reasoned debate. The Graduate Center offers ambitious students nearly 50 doctoral and master’s programs of the highest caliber, taught by top faculty from throughout CUNY — the nation’s largest urban public university. Through its nearly 40 centers, institutes, initiatives, and the Advanced Science Research Center, the Graduate Center influences public policy and discourse and shapes innovation. The Graduate Center’s extensive public programs make it a home for culture and conversation.
Journal
PLOS One
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Prenatal exposure to extreme ambient heat may amplify the adverse impact of Superstorm Sandy on basal ganglia volume among school-aged children
Article Publication Date
11-Jun-2025
Structural brain differences found in kids who experienced prenatal Superstorm Sandy exposure
Study suggests that extreme heat may have amplified the risk of having a differently-sized basal ganglia
PLOS
image:
Neuroimaging research lead prepares MRI scanner for child brain imaging study.
view moreCredit: Rebecca M. Lee and Abid Fahim, CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), using images from kalhh (https://pixabay.com/photos/head-magnetic-resonance-imaging-mrt-254866/ and https://pixabay.com/photos/head-magnetic-resonance-imaging-mrt-254863/), Pixabay, CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/),
In a study of 34 children, the volumes of part of the brain known as the basal ganglia differed significantly between children whose parents were pregnant with them during Superstorm Sandy versus children without prenatal Sandy exposure. Donato DeIngeniis of Queens College, City University of New York, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on June 11, 2025.
Prior research suggests that prenatal exposure to stressors, such as extreme weather, may disrupt neurodevelopment and lead to morphological differences in children’s brains—including basal ganglia volume differences. The basal ganglia is involved in motor ability and possibly also functions such as emotion regulation. Climate change is predicted to make extreme weather and natural disasters more frequent and intense, raising concerns about their prenatal effects.
However, research on this topic has been limited with inconsistent results. To help clarify, DeIngeniis and colleagues used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure basal ganglia volume in 34 8-year-olds in the New York City area. While pregnant, the parents of 11 of the children had experienced Superstorm Sandy, one of the most devastating storms in U.S. history, which hit New York in October 2012 and may have been intensified by climate change.
Statistical analysis of the MRI data showed that, relative to the 23 non-exposed children, the 11 with prenatal Sandy exposure had significantly larger volume on both sides of the brain in parts of the basal ganglia known as the putamen and pallidum, as well as in the caudate on the right side only.
The researchers also investigated potential effects of prenatal exposure to extreme heat. They found that, on its own, extreme heat was not associated with any significant basal ganglia volume differences. However, extreme heat appeared to amplify the basal ganglia effects of prenatal Sandy exposure; children whose parents experienced extreme heat while pregnant during the storm had a smaller left nucleus accumbens and a larger left pallidum.
The study examined quite a small sample of children, and did not examine any functional impact of the structural differences observed. However, additional research could further deepen understanding, such as by investigating possible behavioral effects of the observed volume differences. Meanwhile, the researchers call for efforts to combat climate change and to alert pregnant people to the possible risks of prenatal exposure to extreme climate events.
Lead author Donato DeIngeniis, a research lead in neuroimaging at the Stress in Pregnancy (SIP) study at Queens College and a neuropsychology Ph.D. student at the CUNY Graduate Center, adds: “Despite never personally experiencing these climate events, we are seeing how climate change may be fundamentally altering children’s brain development while they are still in the womb. Among the children exposed to Superstorm Sandy in the womb, neuroimaging revealed significantly larger volume in various basal ganglia regions, an area of the brain that is critical for regulating not just movement but also emotions and behaviors. The noticeable increase in children’s brain volume could potentially lead to future behavioral disorders.”
“To our knowledge, no prior work has examined how exposure to multiple climate-related stressors during pregnancy might work together to shape children’s developing brains. Our work helps fill this important knowledge gap.”
Professor Yoko Nomura, Principal Investigator of the SIP Study and psychology professor at CUNY Queens College, adds: “The combination of storm stress and extreme heat created profound disruptions to the children’s developing brains. We saw significant changes in brain volume among children born to mothers exposed to both Superstorm Sandy and extreme heat during pregnancy. While extreme heat exposure alone did not show significant impacts, it amplified the effects of Superstorm Sandy exposure on child brain development when both occurred during pregnancy.”
Dr. Ahmed Duke Shereen, director of the neuroimaging facility at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center and a co-author on the study, emphasized the long-term implications behind the findings: "These imaging methods enable us to observe how environmental stressors can cascade through a pregnant mother’s experience to reshape the structure of a child’s developing brain. Our findings provide us with compelling evidence that the climate crisis is not merely an environmental crisis—it is a potentially neurological one with consequences for future generations who will inherit our planet.”
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4505HpQ
Citation: DeIngeniis D, Blum M, Lee RM, Shereen AD, Nomura Y (2025) Prenatal exposure to extreme ambient heat may amplify the adverse impact of Superstorm Sandy on basal ganglia volume among school-aged children. PLoS One 20(6): e0324150. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324150
Author countries: U.S.
Funding: This research was supported by PSC-CUNY (90922-08-09, PI: YN) and the NIMH (R01MH13638, PI: YN). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS One
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Prenatal exposure to extreme ambient heat may amplify the adverse impact of Superstorm Sandy on basal ganglia volume among school-aged children
Article Publication Date
11-Jun-2025
