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Study links diseases to intelligence
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jun 08, 2005 01:45pm |
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| Category | Study |
| Media | Newspaper - South Florida Sun-Sentinel |
| News Date | Friday, June 3, 2005 07:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A team of scientists at the University of Utah has proposed that the unusual pattern of genetic diseases seen among Jews of European origin, or Ashkenazis, is the result of natural selection for enhanced intellectual ability.
"It would be hard to overstate how politically incorrect this paper is," said Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist at Harvard, noting that it argues for an inherited difference in intelligence between groups. Still, he said, "it's certainly a thorough and well-argued paper, not one that can easily be dismissed outright."
As to how the disease mutations might affect intelligence, the Utah researchers cite evidence that the sphingolipid disorders promote the growth and interconnection of brain cells. Mutations in the DNA repair genes, involved in second cluster of Ashkenazic diseases, may also unleash growth of neurons.
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