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PRIVATION AND CHILDHOOD:THE CORROSIVE effect of poverty on early childhood are well established. But now scientists are blending economic, social and genetic data in pursuit of a fresh understanding of the psychological and physiological impact of such privation.

Those who grow up in poverty usually remain poor, and the goal is to learn how to stop “intergenerational poverty transfer”, explained Prof Jack Shonkoff of Harvard University. He organised a session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Diego on the Long Reach of Early Childhood Poverty. “We have an amazing opportunity to learn more about the biology of poverty,” he said.