7 Ways to Learn More Without More Study

The abundance of new research on how teenage brains work, aside from being cool for its own sake--teen brains are developing madly, pruning synapses and insulating neurons to build a lean computing machine--is fueling a new movement to help kids make the most of the brain they've got. Think of it as a user's manual for a machine that's still being wired.

One of the leaders in that movement is Wilkie "Bill" Wilson, a neuroscientist and director of DukeLEARN, a Duke University project to teach teenagers the practical applications of neuroscience. DukeLEARN's curriculum for 9th-graders won't be in the schools until 2009, but with the first homework of the fall already being stuffed into backpacks, I asked Bill for a sneak preview. He asked: "How would you like to learn more without having to study more?" Sign me up! Here's how: