you might have heard about girls entering puberty earlier now than in the past, thanks to a yet-unclear combination of better nutrition and exposure to chemicals in the environment. But what happens to the goose, happens to the gander, too. Boys are also entering puberty slightly earlier than in generations past, and The New York Times Magazine this week looked at how that's affected… a boys' choir. To be specific, an 800-year-old boys' choir in Germany for which Mozart had once served as choirmaster.

The St. Thomas Boys Choir has a full range of voices, from soprano to bass, all of them covered by boys age nine to 18. The higher ranges must come from boys whose voices haven't broken yet.