Imagine if parental calm, hugs and smiles could "inoculate" a child from future heartbreak, adolescent anger, or even prepare them for exams a few decades later... Indeed, parental love plays a big role in these life challenges, even with a baby in the womb. The critical period of brain development is by the age of three, when 90% of the adult brain size is already developed. Millions and millions of new connections are formed in the baby through new experiences with a nurturing person. This shows how complicated and vulnerable the baby brain is at the same time.

I was inspired to draw this picture by Dr. Rutter's study "Resilience in the face of adversity. Protective factors and resistance to psychiatric disorder" where he looked at children adopted from an orphanage. Of the children who were adopted by loving couples before the age of 6 months, 69% later functioned normally. This was in contrast to children adopted between 2 and 3.5 years, only 22% of whom experienced a more positive future.

For the da MEDici art competition, we have received 45 entries, from which we will place the best 13 pieces in the faculty calendar for 2025-2026 through your vote. This year we are celebrating the 105th anniversary of the founding of the faculty and that is how many weeks the next 2 years have in total. Do your part in creating the calendar.

How to vote?

First, choose the works you want to vote for from the ones listed below. They will be saved for you to vote on and use the next tab, Voting, to determine their final order. You can preselect multiple works, only the top three will count in the voting. Thank you for your votes.