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UK Edition - Today's top story: When a teenager makes the 'stupid choice', their brain is working exactly as designed View in browser

22 July 2026

UK Edition

The Conversation
 

It must be hard being the parent of a teenager. On the one hand, you might have vivid memories of doing things as a teen that you shouldn’t have - situations where ‘adult you’ would have made a different choice. So you try to impart that wisdom to a child who is probably going to choose to do the stupid thing anyway (just like you did).

The reason, though, isn’t that teenage brains haven’t developed properly. It’s because, as evolutionary criminologist Evelyn Svingen explains, they are designed for a time of life when becoming more independent from family and forming strong peer relationships is crucial.

In a fascinating story from our environment desk, former Antarctic tour guides explain why they chose to quit what had once been a dream job.

And an expert on celebrity branding looks back at the career of footballer Kevin Keegan: a great player who became a brand in an era before the internet and social media, and who paved the way for the super-rich footballers of today.

 

Grace Allen

Education and Young People Editor

 
pikselstock/Shutterstock

When a teenager makes the ‘stupid choice’, their brain is working exactly as designed

Evelyn Svingen, University of Birmingham

If a young person trusts the system to deliver a just outcome, their brain’s urgent need for retribution is dialled down.

Zdenka Sokolickova

‘I can’t work in the farce of climate change cruise tourism anymore’: why Antarctic guides quit their dream jobs

Zdenka Sokolickova, University of Groningen; Christy Hehir, University of Surrey; Elizabeth Cooper, University of Groningen

The moral struggles of guiding tourists through a pristine landscape.

Kevin Keegan in 1973. David Hickes

Before Beckham and Ronaldo, there was Kevin Keegan – the footballer who invented the personal brand

Simon Hinde, University of the Arts London

Keegan was perhaps the first footballer to grasp the idea that his success on the field could be turned into something that held a wider cultural value.

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