Teenage brain

Your teenage daughter gets top marks in school, captains the debate team, and volunteers at a shelter for homeless people. But while driving the family car, she text-messages her best friend and rear-ends another vehicle.

How can teens be so clever, accomplished, and responsible—and reckless 1? Easily, according to two physicians at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School (HMS) who have been 2 the unique structure and chemistry of the 3 brain. “The teenage brain is not just an adult brain with fewer miles on it,” says Frances E. Jensen, a professor of neurology. “It’s a paradoxical time of 4. These are people with very 5 brains, but they’re not quite sure what to do with them.”