Matthew was too reticent to tell me that he appeared on yesterday’s Radio 4 episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage with Robin Ince and Brian Cox. The 30-minute episode is “The Teenage Brain”, and you can download it by going to the site below (click on the screenshot). Besides Matthew Cobb (professor of Zoology at the University of Manchester), we have Scottish comedian Rory Bremner and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a neuroscientist at University College London.
The topic:
Stomping off to your bedroom, being embarrassed by your parents, wanting to fit in with your peers and a love of risky behaviour are all well known traits associated with our teenage years, exasperating parents through the ages. But new research into dynamic changes going on in the brain during these key years has revealed that it’s not just hormones that are responsible for these behaviours. Could a better understanding of what is going on during these formative years not only help teenagers themselves, but inform our education system and even help prevent many of the mental health problems that often begin during adolescence?
As usual, the show is a mixture of good-natured banter, comedy, and hard science:
h/t: Kevin
The 45 minute podcast version is here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/episodes/downloads
Rory Bremner is also a gifted impressionist. He does Tr*mp several times during this episode.
‘Frankly, comparing Donald Trump’s brain to a tennager’s is insulting to teenagers’
At least no one threw their toys out of the pram!