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If you've ever wondered why Dutch people are so tall, this story from The New York Times may have the answer:
Today, the Dutch are on average the tallest people on the planet. Just 150 years ago, they were relatively short. In 1860, the average Dutch soldier in the Netherlands was just 5 feet 5 inches. American men were 2.7 inches taller.
Since 1860, average heights have increased in many parts of the world, but no people have shot up like the Dutch. The average Dutchman now stands over six feet tall. And while the growth spurt in the United States has stopped in recent years, the Dutch continue to get taller.
For years, scientists have sought to understand why average height has increased, and why the Dutch in particular have grown so quickly. Among other factors, the Dutch have a better diet than in the past, and they also have better medical care. But now Dr. Stulp and his colleagues have found evidence suggesting that evolution itself is also helping to make them taller.
It seems that taller men in the Netherlands are more likely to father more children:
Dr. Stulp and his colleagues analyzed data on 42,612 men and women over age 45, looking at the height of their subjects and how many children they had. Dutch men who were taller than average had more children than those of average or lower than average height, the researchers found.
(Score: 5, Informative) by ikanreed on Friday April 10 2015, @10:02PM
Look at this comment section. Just look at it. The unbridled glee at willfully misunderstanding a single study to support long out-dated racist preconceived notions.
Fuck, Ethanol-Fueled is here to randomly blame things on "The Jews". It gets me how fucked up people on the internet are.
Hey fuckers, you know what has a stronger correlation to IQ than race? Racist views. It's true, look it up.
Ya'll guys are dopes, and here's some open access cluesticks for you.
Cognitive differences between countries diminishing [sciencedirect.com].
Quite rapidly in fact [sciencedirect.com]
Those gains are very closely correlated to improvements in infrastructure, health, and education (Lost my link, but don't you dare citation needed this)
The real, measurable effect of genetics on IQ accounts for about 20% of variation. [sciencedirect.com] Yeah, it exists, but it explains very little of what we see.
Programs focused on early development education improve IQ scores compared to controls [sciencedirect.com]
All-in-all, you assholes need to stop pretending evil outsiders are covering up the secret race-based truth, and get your heads out of your asses, and accept that science doesn't support the primitive, narrowminded genetic essentialist views you've locked yourselves into. Learn a tiny bit of the science before opening your mouths and spewing long discredited racist bullshit.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @10:16PM
Yeah, Jesus Christ. IQ differences between countries can be easily explained by the Flynn effect (although the workings behind this aren't well known).
Africa has lower IQs than elsewhere. However, the average IQ in Ethiopia is about that of Britain in the 1940s. With further development, there's no reason to expect they won't catch up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @10:51PM
Except people of African decent, when born in the UK with a UK education still do not "catch up" as you say. Other groups have a higher IQ than the overall median with the same opportunities. Something is at work here and it would be wrong to ignore it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @11:30PM
Obviously there is something wrong with the UK since convergence is happening in the US.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @12:09PM
If you think that IQ is anything other than pseudoscience to begin with, you may have some issues.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @10:25PM
The most hateful person on this site is you. Just read what you wrote. You should be ashamed of yourself. Even your citations are wrong. An example: you state that genetics only account for 20% of variation. The paper you linked to says 56%. Not only did you get the number wrong, you used it as absurd proof that anyone pointing it out is racist.
That is not science. Expletive rants are not respectful. You are the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @12:38AM
Wah!!!
You must be respectful towards my racism! Otherwise you are a damn dirty hypocrite!
Liberals! Always accusing conservatives of being evil to censor them!
Meanwhile real conservatives never think liberals are evil.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday April 10 2015, @10:54PM
IQ questions in Weschler and Stanford Binet are sociologically, economically and culturally biased.
Speaking as a tested 140 + Weschler score.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Saturday April 11 2015, @07:19PM
Sure, but do look up spearman's hypothesis.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Friday April 10 2015, @11:10PM
It anecdotally serves your point that right-wing posts and images tend to have more grammar errors than left-wing ones.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @01:08AM
That's meaningless. Failure to give much of a damn about precise grammar and spelling in a casual message meanings nothing.
Now, on the other hand, right-wing female politicians and successful pundits are universally hotties while those on the left-wing are pretty plain. Liberals might have hotter female constituencies in hollywood and such, but beauty is not a requirement for political leadership.
That right-wingers think that difference is something to brag about is where they really make the case against their own intelligence.
https://rightpunditry.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/republican-vs-democrat-women4.jpg [wordpress.com]
http://hackwilson.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/new-ucla-studies-finds-conservative.html [blogspot.co.uk]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @08:39AM
That's funny.
Gungan makes a completely unsupported claim and is unmolested.
AC makes a claim with references and passable logic that comes to the same conclusion ... gets modded down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @03:18PM
Group selection. Also known as kinselection, tribalism, or being clannish. Even the most open minded, progressive (not in the political sense) people will attack anyone they see as other and defend anyone they see as within their group. Just look at this comment section. There is near half a dozen clear groups ignoring facts and indulging in this primitive behavior.
(Score: 2) by fleg on Saturday April 11 2015, @04:32AM
thanks for the links.