tl; dr Bonham and colleagues studied a cohort of 381 children from just 40 days to 10 years of age. Using genetic analysis, the researchers established the com

tl; dr Bonham and colleagues studied a cohort of 381 children from just 40 days to 10 years of age. Using genetic analysis, the researchers established the communities of bacteria present in the children's microbiome. The children were subjected to a range of age-appropriate cognitive testing and MRI scanning was used to assessed the structure of their brains. A clear associations was found between certain bacterial species and higher cognitive function, while other species were associated with lower cognitive scores. Computer models could also predict the structure and volume of different brain regions based on the child's microbial profile alone. However, it is still too early to determine whether a causal relationship exists between the microbial species and enhanced cognitive abilities.