This is a complete hypothetical.

We often have debates about age based laws and age based justice. And as science has progressed we’ve found that the brain doesn’t fully mature until sometime in the mid twenty’s, let’s say 25 on average. Many people have advocated for laws to be updated to take this into account.

Now, let’s say that due to a common bias in science, that it turns out all those brain development tests were only done on males. A group of researchers tests females and finds that their brains fully mature much sooner, let’s say 17 on average. Six other research groups independently confirm this research.

Would it be appropriate to have different laws for different genders? Should women be considered adults at 17, and men at 25? How much should we let science inform our laws?

To be clear, this would also affect things like ability to vote, military enrollment, justice system, etc.