Development of the human body used to approximately judge a child's age based on physical development. Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sex organs. Physical growth—height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when an adult
Scientific study of religion Scientific study of religion The Scientific study of religion represents the systematic effort by scholars and researchers to investigate religious phenomena, as well as the sociology of church participation. The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion was founded in 1949 by scholars in religion and social science, and it publishes the "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion", a quarterly which "offers perspectives on national and international issues such as brainwashing and cults, religious persecution, and right wing authoritarianism". The Center for the Scientific Study of Religion (CSSR) at the University of Texas at Austin is a leading center