What's it really like to be 12? New York Public Radio's WNYC just launched an intensive (and pretty adorable) investigation with its new video series, Being 12 [1], which takes a firsthand look at what's really going through the minds of tweens. For those of us who can remember back that far, the middle school years are rife with emotional and physical challenges in a league all their own. So much so, in fact, that researchers have dubbed it a "second toddlerhood" because of the intense level of cognitive growth. "While the immediate goals of adolescent development are unique, a closer look reveals that the systems that are undergoing the greatest changes in the brain are the same that had periods of rapid growth during the toddler years," neuroscientist Abigail Baird told New York Magazine [2].

"I'm not quite a teenager, I'm like, in the last stretch, the last 50 meters of the race," one of the kids interviewed said (quite accurately, we might add). The featured 12-year-olds shared their feelings on everything from religion and responsibility to dating and Woman Crush Wednesday. It's a firsthand insight into those ever-evolving minds that you won't want to miss.