Episode 47: The 25 year old brain

Episode 47: The 25 year old brain

Author: Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie August 27, 2024 Duration: 1:03:31

Everyone knows your brain hasn’t finished maturing until you’re 25. That’s so well-known, in fact, that some countries (like Scotland) have built it into their criminal justice system, giving lower sentences to under-25s—even very violent ones—on account of their immature brains.

But in this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss what the evidence really says about when the brain matures—and the trickiness of linking important policy decisions to the science.

The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine, who don’t just have their magazine (at worksinprogress.co), but also have a Substack with a range of extra articles. It’s all thoughtful, thought-provoking stuff—and its all free. Find it at worksinprogress.news.

Show notes

* The three Scottish criminal cases:

* “Golf club thug spared jail over age

* Community service not jail for rape (and the conviction later quashed)

* 3 year-jail sentence for rape

* The Scottish Sentencing Council guidelines from 2022

* The commissioned review by University of Edinburgh on brain maturation

* Useful 2022 Nature paper on structural “brain charts for the human lifespan

* 2024 preprint on the lifespan trajectory of functional brain activation for cognitive control

* 2023 paper with 10,000 people aged 8-35 measured on executive function tests

* BBC Science Focus article by Dean Burnett on the “brain matures at age 25” idea

* “The myth of the 25-year-old brain” in Slate

* Stuart’s i article from last year on the Scottish Sentencing Council

Credits

The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe

Every week, Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie pull apart the biggest arguments and most confusing claims making headlines. Science Fictions isn't just about celebrating breakthroughs; it's a necessary dive into the messy, contested, and often surprising realities of how science actually works. You'll hear them unpack heated debates, examine questionable studies, and explore why even solid research can sometimes lead to public confusion. This podcast serves as a guide through the noise, separating compelling evidence from overblown narratives. Each episode feels like a conversation with two deeply informed friends who aren't afraid to ask tough questions, offering clarity on topics that matter. For anyone curious about the stories behind the science headlines, this is an essential listen. Tune in for thoughtful analysis that goes beyond the press release, grounded in a genuine fascination with how we know what we know.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Science Fictions
Podcast Episodes
Episode 72: Parenting (Part 1) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:52
The Studies Show LIVE (with special guest Jesse Singal) is this week! Friday 9 May, Conway Hall, London, 8pm. Get your tickets AT THIS LINK or at bit.ly/tss_live. Welcome to a new series of The Studies Show, all about pa…
Episode 71: The autism epidemic [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:31
The Studies Show LIVE (with special guest Jesse Singal) is next Friday, 9th of May, at Conway Hall in London. Get your tickets right HERE! Or go to bit.ly/tss_live. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. can’t be wrong about literally e…
Paid-only Episode 19: Circumcision [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:05
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comSome scientific controversies are quite surprising (why would the shape of the Earth be controversial, for example?). But some…
Episode 70: Bird flu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:25
Don’t forget THE STUDIES SHOW LIVE—on 9 May in London! You can buy tickets at this link, or by going to bit.ly/tss_live.What’s going to be the next pandemic? For a long time you might’ve seen news stories about the curre…
Episode 69: Conspiracy theories [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:39
While you here do snoring lie, Open-eyed conspiracy His time doth take.If of life you keep a care, Shake off slumber, and beware: Awake, awake!…or so said William Shakespeare—about whom there are quite a few conspiracy t…
Episode 68: Cannabis [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:47
The Studies Show LIVE! Get your tickets for our live show in London on Friday 9 May at this link.Blaze it up! It’s time for an episode on cannabis. And just to be clear, not “on cannabis”, but “on, as in about, cannabis”…
Invitation to The Studies Show LIVE [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:05
The Studies Show. Live. In London. With Jesse Singal. Talking about controversial science. Friday 9 May 2025. What more need we say? Well actually, we say a bit more in this brief podcast.Get your tickets HERE!Or go to b…
Paid-only Episode 18: Abortion [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:59
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comAs if the basic “pro-life vs. pro-choice” issue wasn’t controversial enough, there’s been a decades-long scientific debate on t…
Episode 67: Seed oils [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:22
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. thinks that seed oils—like sunflower or soybean oil—are causing terrible damage to people’s health. And now he’s the US Health Secretary (wait, what?!) we should probably take him seriously.In this…
Episode 66: Superforecasting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:53
Whether it’s the 1903 New York Times article that claimed a flying machine was ten million years away, or the record executive who (allegedly) told the Beatles in the early 1960s that guitar bands were on the way out, pr…