This is Your Brain on Poverty (And More Stories)

I'm trying the weekly digest format this week. This is striking: A new study shows that brains of high-income children function differently than those of low-income children. So differently, in fact, that for the poorer kids, according to one psychologist, "it is a similar pattern to what's seen in patients with strokes that have led to lesions in their prefrontal cortex"--prefrontal cortex being the part of the brain related to problem solving. Also:

• Imagine a tug-of-war between genes. On one side: autism and related conditions. On the other: mental disorders like schizophrenia. A must-read.

• In a massive survey, a whopping 64 percent of high school students admitted to cheating on a test, and 30 percent to shoplifting.

• See how scientists are working to genetically engineer peanuts that don't cause fatal allergic reactions.