Does Learning Cure Zits?
Ok, my title is a bit of a stretch and certainly a distortion of logic. But Scientific American published a 60 second science podcast today about how puberty makes kids stupid. A study of brains in pubescent mice shows that puberty triggers a sort of interference by something called a GABA receptor that gets into the brain at puberty (in mice), preventing neurons from forming connections as they did when the mouse was not experiencing hormone rage. A slightly more elaborate explanation of the mouse study in the Science Magazine podcast (March 19) explains further that stress may actually improve learning during these dumbed-down days by overriding the GABA interference. So I muse:
If puberty inhibits brain function enough to prevent learning, do zits possibly prevent learning?
If we can interfere with the pubescent brainstall simply by adding a little stress, should we be stressing our teenagers more?
If puberty causes zits, will learning — which implies conquering puberty — cure them?
But isn’t stress supposed to CAUSE zits?
Or does stress cause puberty?
You have 60 seconds to generate the logic diagram for these arguments, separate fact from fiction, and report it with APA documentation…or simply get a zit. How’s that for stress-induced learning?
It must be Friday.
