Head to head is not smart

The genes that are supposed to help people develop big brains do not necessarily play a role in how smart they are.

Professor Colin Groves
(Photo: anu.edu.au)

The study, conducted by the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, first investigated the relationship between genes, skull size and intelligence in the general population.

They found that those who scored high on intellectual tests did not necessarily possess genes that made up the big head and were supposed to create intelligence. And those with smart genes are not the smartest or the biggest.

The researchers examined 4,395 teens about skull size and intelligence. They studied the genes ASPM, MCPH1 and CDK5RAP2 - controlling the size of the brain. When mutated, these genes create an unusually small brain.

Everyone carries these three genes, but some people carry less evolved versions, while others carry more evolutionary genes. Some people carry one version of each gene.

Researchers have speculated that people with a more advanced version of the gene will be smarter and have a bigger mind, but the truth is not so.

Professor Colin Groves, expert of human evolution at Australian National University, said the human brain began to grow out since the ancient ancestor Homo habilis. But until now our brains have stopped growing and actually shrunk.

While brain size is related to intelligence among species, it is not the case in the same species, Groves said. And despite the development of advanced technology, there is no evidence that humans have been smarter in the last 50,000 years.

MT