Teenagers who stick with the subject have higher levels of chemical vital for brain plasticity, research shows
Students who drop mathematics at the age of 16 have lower amounts of a brain chemical that is critical for brain and cognitive development, compared with those who continue maths, a study has found.
Researchers at the University of Oxford found that those who stopped maths after their GCSEs had less gamma-aminobutyric acid, a chemical which is crucial for brain plasticity, than counterparts who pursued maths post-16.