A: math

NUMERICAL SKILLS ARE DECIDED IN THE WOMB: Bad at math? Blame your mother. A new study reveals that a woman’s hormone levels in pregnancy affect her child’s math skills at age five. Over one thousand children were studied from the time they were in the womb until they started school. Kids whose mothers had very low levels of the hormone thyroxine while pregnant were found to be almost twice as likely to struggle with math compared to other kids. The hormone was not linked to vocabulary and language skills, however. The experts think they may be able to head off the problem by simply testing women’s hormones early in pregnancy and giving them thyroxine supplements if needed, as babies are not capable of producing the hormone themselves. (Daily Mail)