Scientists have produced the most detailed picture yet of how pregnancy reshapes the brain. A study tracking 127 women across pregnancy found that grey matter volume falls by nearly 5% before birth. Researchers believe the brain is essentially being pruned and rewired to prepare mothers for the demands of caring for an infant.

“I like to use the metaphor of pruning a tree,” Professor Susana Carmona, co-lead author of the study, recently told the BBC. “Some of the branches are cut to make it grow more efficiently.”

What’s striking is how consistent and universal the changes are: every woman in the study showed the same pattern, and brain scans alone could identify who had been pregnant with more than 90% accuracy years later. The findings also raise urgent questions about the roughly one in five women who experience depression around childbirth, and whether deviations from this typical pattern might explain why some are more vulnerable than others.

We also take a look at new research which suggests that hedgehogs can hear ultrasonic frequencies well beyond the human range – a finding that could one day lead to sound-based deterrents to keep them clear of roads and dangerous machinery.

And we bring you expert analysis of the first tranche of documents relating to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

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