"In a series of papers on adolescent health published in The Lancet today, scientists describe how new research has changed our understanding of adolescence which was thought to start with the physical changes to the body around puberty and to be completed when growth stopped in the late teens. Now researchers believe the brain goes on maturing and is not fully developed until at least the age of 24."

"So if teens think as well as adults do and recognize risk just as well, why do they take more chances? Here, as elsewhere, the problem lies less in what teens lack compared with adults than in what they have more of. Teens take more risks not because they don't understand the dangers but because they weigh risk versus reward differently: In situations where risk can get them something they want, they value the reward more heavily than adults do." —This is a good read on how the teen brain works. God, you couldn't pay me enough to be that age again. [Via]

A study of 550 birds of 48 different species living in the exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia showed a five percent decrease in brain size directly attributable to lingering radiation. Measures taken after the reactor exploded of 1986 found traces of radioactive material in pretty much every country north of the equator. So count on future generations of humans to walk into screen doors even more frequently than we all do now. (Sidebar: the person who took the video is mean.)

A new study suggests that, contrary to popular opinion, the brains of risk-taking teens might be more mature and adult-like than those of teens who are less cool likely to engage in such behavior. It also raises the possibility that we might actually be evaluating risk-taking behavior through the prism of ageism.

I have very recently come to realize that I am a terrible friend. Well, perhaps "terrible" is a bit of an overstatement: I will be there for you if you come to me in need, or really make any kind of effort at all, but otherwise I try to keep my head down and not get involved. There are plenty of reasons for this, mostly involving fatigue and heavy drinking and a crippling sense of dread at the thought of picking up the phone just to chat and catch up on your life. In a sense, our new electronic world has been a major accomplice in my declining amiability; [...]

"Young people’s brains are developing while they are immersed in fast, multitasking technology. No one quite knows what effect this is having." —Unlike, you know, playing stickball in the street. Or running around catching fireflies in an idyllic suburban backyard. Or doing math! What about all that writing by hand, with pens and paper? I bet that did crazy things to brains. Anyway, I hereby sentence David Brooks to 40 consecutive Tree of Life viewings.

Science, what excuse can you give me for my inappropriate behaviors today?

The brain does not stop developing until we are in our 30s or 40s – meaning that many people will still have something of the teenager about them long after they have taken on the responsibilities of adulthood. The finding, from University College London, could perhaps help explain why seemingly respectable adults sometimes just can’t resist throwing a tantrum or sulking until they get their own way. The discovery that the part of the brain key to getting on with others takes decades to fully form could perhaps also explain why some people are socially awkward [...]