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Early in her career neuroscientist Allyson Mackey began thinking about molars. As a researcher who studies brain development, she wanted to know whether when these teeth arrived might indicate early maturation in children. I ve long been concerned that if kids grow up too fast, their brains will mature too fast and will lose plasticity at an earlier age. Then they ll go into school and have trouble learning at the same rate as their peers, says Mackey, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Penn. Of course, not every kid who experiences stress or [is] low income will show this pattern of accelerated development.