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"We found that the small relationship between intelligence and life span was almost all genetic," said study researcher Rosalind Arden, a research associate at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
...
Arden and her colleagues analyzed data from three long-running twin studies that all looked at sets of twins in which at least one twin had already died. One study looked at 377 pairs of male World War II-veteran twins from the United States. Another was a study of 246 pairs of twins from Sweden, and the third looked at 784 pairs of Danish twins.In general, the researchers found, the more intelligent twin of each pair lived longer, whether the twins were fraternal or identical. But there was a much larger difference in longevity between fraternal twins, pointing to genes as the major driver of the life-span differences.
Statistically, the researchers found, lifestyle choices could explain only 5 percent of the link between intelligence and life span. The rest was genetic.
Another interesting inference to draw from the identical twins in their study is that intelligence is not purely a question of genes. If one half of the pair can be more intelligent than the other, despite sharing identical genes, then that must come down to lifestyle choices, work, and will.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tibman on Friday August 14 2015, @03:54PM
You should have peeked at the article before posting : )
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(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 14 2015, @04:11PM
Aren't there rules against that?
Actually, I did peek. I don't really believe their spin on the story. Some of the most intelligent people in the world are risk takers. Risk takers often die young(er), but that doesn't detract from their intelligence. Call them stupid, but they are often very intelligent. Note that TFA itself says that the relationship is pretty small, with genetics being a much larger driving force than intelligence.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tibman on Friday August 14 2015, @04:38PM
I have no argument with intelligence and risk taking. But the article does say that the twins had intelligence tests with the caveat that sometimes the test was performed later in life. Both of the twins took the IQ test and the more intelligent of the two lived longer. It wasn't some arbitrary thing where they asked the surviving twin if they were the smarter of the two.
It does make you wonder though. If the two are linked then that could be the evolutionary advantage for intelligence.
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