The secret of intelligence

When the body of genius physicist Albert Einstein was removed for analysis in 1955, his brain made people disappointed, because it turned out to be smaller than most normal human brains, not too big as the public. still thought.

In fact, many later studies show that the size of the brain is almost unrelated to human intelligence. It seems that brain quality is more important than size.

Newscientist said that the ability to communicate between nerve cells is an important factor. Martijn van den Heuvel, a neuroscientist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, discovered that the brains of extremely intelligent people have neural networks more efficient than the majority. In other words, the process of transmitting information from one cell to another in the intelligent human brain undergoes less 'procedure' than in the normal human brain.

Another important factor is the fat membrane that covers the nerves. This fat membrane determines the rate of signal propagation in the brain. Paul Thompson, an expert at the University of California in the US, has demonstrated that the higher the quality of the fat film covering the nerve, the greater the human intelligence index and vice versa.

Genius physicist Albert Einstein in 1921. Photo: wikipedia.org.

We still don't know exactly the role of genes in intelligence. Many studies show that the index of intelligence depends on the gene at the rate of 40 to 80%. That ratio may increase over time because - according to a study published last year - the older a person is, the greater the role of genes in intelligence. Robert Plomin, a scientist at King's University in the UK - who conducted the study - tracks 11,000 twins for many years. He found that at 9 years of age, genes contribute 40% to human intelligence. But when we entered the age of 17, that ratio increased to 2/3.

what does it mean? According to Newscientist, perhaps the gene determines how the brain develops when people grow up. In other words, genes can help us predict whether an individual will actively seek a favorable environment for brain development.

'If we are born to be a genius, instinct will urge us to find the right environment for our innate aptitudes to grow,' explains Thompson.