Why are They So Weird?: What's Really Going on in a Teenager's Brain - Softcover

As Strauch reveals, scientists now recognize that there is a biological component to why teenagers are so likely to slam the door and hide out in their rooms at the least provocation. There is a reason they are alternatively articulate and idealistic one moment, and incoherent and self-centered the next, or like to remain cocooned in their beds till noon, or are so attracted to risk and thrills, to drugs and alcohol and high speeds. And it's not just hormones. New studies of ordinary teenagers from around the world show that far from stopping growing at seven or eleven, the brain undergoes a complete rewiring - particularly the frontal cortex, the part of the brain that governs logic and helps to control our emotions - in adolescence. "Why Are They So Weird?" offers a well-informed and entertaining roadmap to that exhilarating, infuriating and sometimes terrifying time.

Barbara Strauch is the health and medical science editor for THE NEW YORK TIMES. Prior to that she was a reporter, feature writer and science writer for fifteen years, including at NEW YORK NEWSDAY, where she directed the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Union Square subway crash. She is also the mother of two teenage daughters.