Public release date: 3-Dec-2008 Contact: Aimee Stern American
Association for the Advancement of Science When 'just say no'
isn't enough: Try science Teens are fascinated by their brains,
the way they work, change, and even "freeze" sometimes. The
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
recommends that parents, teachers and caregivers use that
fascination to engage middle and high school students this
holiday season in a discussion of why they shouldn't drink
alcohol. "Parents need every tool they can find to convince
their teens not to drink alcohol, particularly during the
holiday season," says Shirley Malcom, head of the Education &
Human Resources Directorate at AAAS. "Science is such a tool,
and it is providing new insights on alcohol's effects on the
maturing brain." Scientists used to believe that human brains
finished developing before adolescence. But according to The
Science Inside Alcohol Project, an alcohol education effort of
the AAAS that is funded by the National Institute on