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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.
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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: 2) by opinionated_science on Friday August 14 2015, @04:27PM
The problem with twin studies is that they are not physically identical. Their genomes are, but their personal cellular development profiles. They might be very close, but they are not identical. If you ever meet twins you can (usually) immediately tell which is older than the other. Biological processes are stochastic, and therefore 2 organisms growing with competing resources (i.e. 2 foetuses , one womb) are going to have different growth profiles.
There is a not-very-subtle dogma surrounding the genetics of intelligence that is uncomfortably close to the eugenics dogma in the early 20th century. There are a few of these articles kicking around.
Biology is very complex and even with the best genetics, where, when and to whom you are born makes a massive difference.
Clearly intelligence has a genetic component, because nearly all humans can speak where the nearest genetically proximal primate cannot . But beyond that there are far too many environmental factors to say much beyond that, and a the probabilities of your personal space-time potential...