WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHY TEENS BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO? WATCH SURVIVING:) THE TEENAGE BRAIN PREMIERING ON CBC-TV’S THE NATURE OF THINGS ON JANUARY 19, 2012 AT 8 P.M. (8:30 NT)

In the past, when we put the words selfish, reckless, irrational, irritable and impossible together we could only be describing one thing: the teenager – that odd creature that invades our homes for what seems like an eternity and tests the limits of our reasoning skills and patience.

But what if teenagers are doing exactly as nature intended? New research suggests that without our turbulent teen years the human race would be, as Dr. David Bainbridge puts it in Surviving:) The Teenage Brain, “short lived and stupid.”

Produced by Merit Motion Pictures and writer/director, Elise Swerhone – the award-winning team behind One Ocean, Science of the Senses and TuTuMUCH – Surviving:) The Teenage Brain looks at the teen years from an evolutionary perspective and demonstrates that these troubling years are, in fact, key to the survival of our species.

The film combines cutting edge scientific research with YouTube clips of outrageous teen behaviour and comic book style graphics to challenge conventional thinking about adolescence. Today’s teenagers are doing precisely what each new generation has always done, pushing us to evolve and adapt to our environment.

This intriguing documentary features the knowledge and research of international scientists and experts like National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) neurologist Dr. Jay Giedd, one of the world’s foremost experts on adolescent brain development; Cambridge evolutionary biologist Dr. David Bainbridge, author of Teenagers: A Natural History; adolescent mental health expert Dr. Stan Kutcher; biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher and innovation and technology expert Don Tapscott (author of Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing the World).

Together, these experts present surprising new research that explains the peculiarities and immense power and potential of the teen brain. This new perspective could change the way we school, parent and motivate these transitional Homo sapiens. It might even make them easier to live with : - )

Surviving:) The Teenage Brain was produced with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, Manitoba Film & Music, the Government of Manitoba – Manitoba Film & Video Production Tax Credit, and the Government of Canada – Canadian Film & Video Production Tax Credit, in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.