A study conducted in Australia has found that "Children of older fathers appear to perform less well in intelligence tests during infancy and childhood." Children with older mothers, however, score higher on the same tests.
Hmmm...
So if dad is old, the kid is dumber. If mom is old, the kid is smarter.
Now, it should be pointed out that "dumber" and "smarter" are not really the correct terms. We're talking about intelligence tests, which may or may not be a good indicator of actual smartiness. The data that the Aussie researchers used is "from intelligence tests taken by 33,437 children who were born between 1959 and 1965 in the United States." I don't know about you, but I think my kids are smarter than I was at their age. So I'd like to see results based on more recent humans.
Scientists theorize that the reason for the "older dad = lower scores, older mom = higher scores" result is... drum roll, please... mutated sperm.
Yes, gray-haired daddies, your sperm is mutates as you get older! What does that mean? I have to admit that I have no idea. By "mutation" do they mean "dumber"? I guess they do.
In case you can't tell, I don't take much stock in this. For some reason I find it difficult to take science of this sort seriously. What's the point? Let's say there were lock solid proof that having kids past a certain age meant that said kids would only be able to achieve a certain level of intelligence. Would people use that as a reason not to have kids? I doubt it. So why do the study? Why not spend time on something more important, like space travel?
And when they say "mutation," I think of the X-Men. Let's find a way to have that mutated sperm lead to super powers! Isn't it about time science started doing something useful?
Source: Reuters
Image: SXC
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