I'll have to go back and get the issue date, but a recent issue of "The New Scientist" announced that the trigger hormone for puberty has been found.

Teatments for delying premature puberty (below 8) and late puberty are in the pipeline now.

Some speculation was given to the issue of restraining the secular trend toward earlier puberties that gone on since the mid-18th century.

The key protein is called a kisspetide, because it's shaped like a candy kiss.

Thank you for bringing up this article. It's in the 22 July 2006 issue of The New Scientist, pp. 34–38. It's an excellent article that deserves an abstract or summary on the Archive.

There is a brief teaser on The New Scientist website that invites readers to subscribe in order to see the rest of the article

Article Preview

The teen gene: Switching on puberty

22 July 2006

Alison Motluk

Magazine issue 2561

We've discovered the master control that triggers puberty, but should we use it? New Scientist investigates

DID you stare into the mirror every morning, desperate for signs that your body was starting to develop like those of your classmates? Or perhaps you were the one who started sprouting breasts or facial hair years before your peers, and got teased just as much as the late developers.

Though it happens to practically everyone, the start of puberty is highly unpredictable: it can happen as naturally to a girl of 8 as to one aged 13. The range is just as wide in boys, though puberty tends to strike them a couple of years later. Though that whole range is considered "normal", the age at which the hormones start flowing can affect everything from how tall you will grow, how strong your bones will be, your risk of getting breast or prostate cancer many decades later to maybe even your mental health. And it's entirely out of our ...

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/bei ... berty.html

Is there anyone out there who would like to write a summary???