Scientists identify 4 turning points for your brain as you age

It’s no secret that our brains change as we age. The ease with which we form new connections—whether learning a language or picking up a new skill—shifts throughout life. But scientists are now showing just how dramatic and how patterned those shifts really are.

A new study from the University of Cambridge has identified five distinct phases of brain development across the human lifespan. The phases are marked by four turning points: ages nine, 32, 66, and 83, where brain rewiring shifts. “At different points in time, the brain is expected to be doing something different,” says Alexa Mousley , a research associate at the University of Cambridge and lead author of the study. “These phases show that the development of the brain is non-linear.”

To uncover these stages, researchers studi