Unexplainable – "Diary of a Teenage Brain"

Date: December 8, 2025
Podcast: Unexplainable (Vox)
Host(s): Bird Pinkerton, Julia Longoria
Featured Guest: Dr. Raul Gonzalez, Professor and Head of the Miami site of the ABCD Study
Teen Participant: Briana

Episode Overview

This episode explores the mysteries of the teenage brain through the lens of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study—one of the largest and most ambitious longitudinal studies following teens across the U.S. The Unexplainable team dives into how the study works, why understanding teens is so difficult (and important), and what early findings are revealing about risk, substance use, and normal adolescence. Woven into the science is the story of Briana, a participant in the ABCD study since childhood, providing a real teen’s perspective.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The ABCD Study: "The Boyhood of Adolescent Brain Studies"

• Origins and Ambition (03:11–04:32)
  • The ABCD Study follows nearly 12,000 U.S. kids from about age 9 for at least a decade, tracking their development through MRIs, cognitive tasks, surveys, and biological samples.
  • Dr. Raul Gonzalez describes the motivation:

    "There was this recognition that to really move the field forward... we really needed to start with a huge study that started with adolescents before they started experimenting or using drugs." (04:11)

  • What began as an initiative to understand substance abuse risk rapidly snowballed as other researchers recognized the value of this comprehensive data set, folding in questions about sleep, mental health, physical activity, screen time, and more (06:51).

The Nuts and Bolts: Collecting Data from Teens

• Making It Work (05:06–06:11)

  • Every year, researchers collect extensive data: MRIs, cognitive tasks, urine/hair/baby teeth samples, surveys, and more, aiming to capture the complex picture of adolescent development.
  • Dr. Gonzalez on the data’s breadth:

    "We covered so many things that we thought were important as risk factors for substance use and addiction." (06:11)

• Getting Teens to Show Up (08:26–09:28)

  • It’s challenging to cajole thousands of teens to consistently participate. Julia recounts the very real struggle of waiting in a car for a late teen participant (08:26).

Inside a Teen’s Experience

• Meet Briana (12:13–14:00)

  • Briana, now 18 and entering FIU as an art student, was signed up for the study by her mother.

    "My mom was really intrigued... by the concept of seeing my brain develop... so she signed me up for it." (13:28)

  • She remembers being taught about the study “to a fifth grader,” and staying involved because it was ultimately her choice.

• Motivations to Participate (14:00–15:03)

  • While initial anxiety centered on MRIs (“I was just scared of... not having to move..."), compensation and games (with cash prizes) became a big draw.
  • Gonzalez describes the risk-seeking games as:

    "Pretty much... [like] you’re taking the preteens to the A version of the casino." (15:02)

• Being Studied: The Questions (15:28–17:23)

  • Over a decade, Briana’s been asked detailed questions about everything from sleep and diet to relationships and increasingly complex substance use.

    "They asked me if I smoked once, and I was like, 'I'm nine.'" (16:17)

  • On honesty: Briana admits if she were hiding something from her mom, she might not tell the truth to researchers either.

The Truth About Teens’ Answers

• Self-Report Limitations & Biological Checks (17:53–18:47)
  • Dr. Gonzalez explains self-report is often inaccurate:

    "Do we have evidence that everybody’s telling us the truth? We have evidence that everybody is not telling us the truth... we collect hair samples... about 10% of our participants have had positive hair toxicology results but reported no use." (18:00–18:42)
    Julia quips:
    "10% are liars." (18:42)

Early Findings from the Data (19:54–23:24)

• What Predicts Early Substance Use? (20:22–21:13)

  • The study has begun releasing data, with over 1,400 papers so far.
  • Initial findings: Psychological, social, and family variables are stronger predictors of experimenting with substances than brain scans alone.

    Dr. Gonzalez: "Its explanatory value in predicting future behavior is not as strong as some other factors that we're measuring now." (21:13)

  • Brain function scans might have more value, but not dramatically so.

• Is Early Experimentation Dangerous? (21:58–22:15)

  • Experimenting (“trying a sip of beer or a puff of weed”) does not doom a teen to addiction—“the vast majority… do not develop a use disorder.” (21:58)

The Hope: A Map of Risk and Intervention

• Using Data for Prevention (22:32–24:07)

  • The ultimate goal: Detect patterns (e.g., does more sleep reduce substance issues in certain teens?) to design interventions and help kids avoid problem trajectories before harm sets in.

  • Gonzalez:

    "We can start working our way backwards to try to disentangle the associations among these variables." (23:50–24:07)

The Human Side: Parenting and Uncertainty

• Dr. Gonzalez as a Parent (24:19–25:30)

  • Gonzalez has a 16-year-old daughter now navigating adolescence:

    "I sure want her to make plenty of mistakes while I’m still around... Mistakes are opportunities to learn." (25:30)

• Limits of Prediction (26:21–27:03)

  • Even with mountains of data, the art of parenting—and luck—still rule individual outcomes:

    "I think I'd have a better roadmap. I don't know if I'd have a perfect roadmap. There's too much serendipity involved." (26:40)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the audacity of the ABCD Study:
  "It was going to be the study that anybody would ever want to do, but nobody would ever have the resources to do."
  – Raul Gonzalez (04:41)

• On teens hiding the truth:
  "Do we have evidence that everybody’s telling us the truth? We have evidence that everybody is not telling us the truth... about 10%... have had positive hair toxicology results but reported no use."
  – Raul Gonzalez (18:00–18:42)

• On parenting risk-taking teens:
  "I cannot stop my daughter from engaging in risky behaviors. And then also, why would I? Risk is an inherent part of the human condition. What I can do is try to mitigate the risks and hope that in the face of risk, we can still get great outcomes."
  – Raul Gonzalez (25:30)

Important Timestamps

• 01:34–03:43 – Introduction to the ABCD study and its scale
• 05:06–06:11 – Explanation of the types of data collected from participants
• 12:13–14:00 – Briana’s introduction as a long-term study participant
• 15:03–15:13 – Briana wins $35 in a risk game; motivation to continue participating
• 17:53–18:47 – Methods for checking the accuracy of teens’ self-reported data
• 20:22–21:13 – Key findings: social factors predict experimentation better than brain scans
• 23:24–24:07 – How data could inform interventions to improve teen health
• 25:30–25:57 – Dr. Gonzalez talks candidly about parenting his own teenager

Tone & Style

The episode weaves warmth, curiosity, and genuine grappling with scientific and personal uncertainty. Both hosts and guests speak conversationally, candidly, and with humor—never shying away from complexity or admitting the limits of knowledge.

Conclusion

This episode paints a vivid picture of both the practical and existential challenges in studying adolescents. From massive scientific undertakings and rigorous data collection to the lived, messy complexity of individual teens like Briana, Unexplainable brings listeners into the heart of research—and reveals that while we may never fully "explain" the teenage brain, we're making progress, one data point and one honest conversation at a time.