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Seemingly overnight sweet, cuddly children turn into angry, unpredictable creatures. One reason: During puberty teenagers’ brains turn into huge construction sites. Underutilized neural connections are dissolved and recombined. The prefrontal cortex, which is implicated in a variety of complex behaviours, including reasoning and planning, undergoes major refurbishment. Access to this area is restricted during puberty due to numerous roadblocks in this and other regions of the brain. The result: Erratic behaviour and unpredictable mood swings. The body is also experiencing dramatic changes. Pimples disfigure teenage faces. Boys sprout chest hair and stubble, and their previously supple voices turn raspy. Girls’ clothes seem to shrink as their curves grow and the first menstruation sets in. In both sexes, the hormone cocktail is violently shaken, not stirred. This transformation is a biological miracle. A hitherto well-known person becomes somebody new. Puberty is like a second birth. During t
