Brain scientists say they have found that the size of certain regions of the brain is under tight genetic control and that the larger these regions the higher is intelligence.
The finding is true only on average and cannot be used to assess an individual's intelligence, said Dr. Paul M. Thompson, the leader of the research team and a pioneer in mapping the structure of the brain.
Dr. Bruce L. Miller, a neurologist at the University of California at San Francisco and an expert on brain changes in Alzheimer's disease, said Dr. Thompson's work was "an exciting study that starts to show there are some brain areas in which there are
very significant genetic influences on structure."
And Dr. Robert Plomin, a psychologist who studies intelligence at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, said the high correlation found between the size of certain areas of the brain and general intelligence "does make it harder to dismiss intelligence
as some meaningless construct."
The human brain seems to be divided into modules that perform separate tasks. The frontal lobes are involved in planning and risk assessment, while regions at the back of the brain handle visual processing.
(The New York Times)
Smoking delays babies
Women who want to get pregnant delay their chances by about two months if they smoke tobacco, a study finds. But scientists have found no difference between women who had never smoked and those who had quit at least a year earlier.
(USA Today)
