Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Teenage Brain

This summer I read the book "The Secret Life of the Grown Up Brain" which actually made me feel a bit better about this whole aging process (see this bit about menopause in the Atlantic for feeling even better still) ... I took the authors' book about teens out of the library but have not made it past the part where she describes the age-appropriateness of taking crazy risks and explains that parents jobs are to be their childrens' pre-frontal cortex.  Oh my.

At the same time, Leisa sent me the link to a podacast about teen brains -
It's an age-old question: why do teenagers behave as they do? Why 
the angst, anger and risk-taking? Some researchers say science and 
evolution provide some answers. And in some cases, the very 
behaviors that drive parents crazy may be the traits that prove the 
keys to success as an adult. - More at http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140637115/understanding-the-mysterious-teenage-brain?ft=1&f=5&sc=17
she highly recommends it, even for those of us with younger kids and then today a National Geographic showed up with "The Teenage Brain" on the cover.

I'm both suspicious and fascinated by brain science - others?  Would this be a good future P4P topic or community forum?