/sci/ - Science & Math

Is it selfish to go to college purely for the pursuit of knowledge without caring if your research "helps people" as its main goal
Or should you major in a science that is making life changing advancements of our species?

REFERENCES

For full text access some of these, try using your university library databases. If this is not possible, I can give you the PDFs (I'll probably convert to images and then dump) at your request.

[1] Psychological Bulletin, 1978, Vol. 85, No. 6, 1317-1322
[2] http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/weblog/520.html
[3] http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v9/n4/box/nrg2322_BX4.html
[4] Annals of Human Biology, 1978, Vol. 5, No. 3, 227-280
[5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKJ3KZYZBA4 [Yes, this professor is a racist asshole. But this video states the argument succinctly for those not interested in the specifics.]
[6] Psychology, Public Policy, and Law; 2005, Vol. 11, No. 2, 235–294; psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/pppl1.pdf
[7] http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2002-02/1013725291.Ge.r.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0160289691900318

Using magnetic resonance imaging, we show that larger brain size (corrected for body size) is associated with higher IQ in 40 college students equally divided by high versus average IQ, and by sex. These results suggest that differences in human brain size are relevant to explaining differences in intelligence test performance.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028969900015X

The relation of IQ (Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Test) to brain size was studied in 103 right- and left-handed men and women at Atatürk University in eastern Turkey. Cerebral areas were measured on a midsagittal section of the brain using MRI. An overall correlation of 40 was found between MRI-measured total area and IQ thereby further supporting the IQ–brain size hypothesis. Additional analyses suggested that these results may need qualification. In men, only anterior cerebral area correlated with IQ. In women, total and posterior cerebral areas were correlated with IQ. Other results varied by handedness.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/r173v725160tn626/
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI
brain size is correlated with cognitive ability about .44 using MRI

>>3756178
>For every paper you cite that shows that IQ is heritable, there are two others that are inconclusive or contradictory.

Are you serious? Did you even read the abstract of those studies? The first one is unequivocal. Researchers have found a link between GENES and INTELLIGENCE TEST scores. This is recent and negates any previous psychological studies which suggested anything different.

If we're going to talk about former studies (irrelevant in face of the genetic data on IQ heritability), then I'll just leave this here:

== A Review of Studies Demonstrating the Heritability of IQ ==
Genetic Influence on Human Psychological Traits
Current Directions in Psychological Science August 2004 vol. 13 no. 4 148-151; doi: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00295.x

This meta-analysis of former studies records intelligence to have a heritability of 0.85 in adulthood, which is very significant. "These findings are consistent with those reported for the traits of other species and for many human physical traits, suggesting that they may represent a general biological phenomenon."

http://www18.homepage.villanova.edu/diego.fernandezduque/Teaching/PhysiologicalPsychology/zCurrDir42
00/CurrDirGeneticsTraits.pdf

== Genetic Basis for Human Intelligence Confirmed ==

Genome-wide association studies establish that human intelligence is highly heritable and polygenic
Molecular Psychiatry , (9 August 2011) doi:10.1038/mp.2011.85

"Our results unequivocally confirm that a substantial proportion of individual differences in human intelligence is due to genetic variation, and are consistent with many genes of small effects underlying the additive genetic influences on intelligence."

"We estimate that 40% of the variation in crystallized-type intelligence and 51% of the variation in fluid-type intelligence between individuals is accounted for by linkage disequilibrium between genotyped common SNP markers and unknown causal variants."

== IQ reflects Anatomical Brain Differences ==

"Genetic influences on brain morphology and IQ are well studied. A variety of sophisticated brain-mapping approaches relating genetic influences on brain structure and intelligence establishes a regional distribution for this relationship that is consistent with behavioral studies. We highlight those studies that illustrate the complex cortical patterns associated with measures of cognitive ability. A measure of cognitive ability, known as g, has been shown highly heritable across many studies. We argue that these genetic links are partly mediated by brain structure that is likewise under strong genetic control."

www.loni.ucla.edu/~thompson/PDF/TT_ARN05.pdf

Hello. I'm looking for a good book about evolution.
I'm already convinced by evolution, and I think I understand the principle pretty well (in different domains) but don't know much about biology.

What would you suggest? I was adviced to read The Greatest Show on Earth but It seems to be made to convince people who don't believe in evolution.

Forgive my poor english. Thanks.

If you were offered the choice to become asexual, would you take it?

What if it was reversible?

If it could be un-done i would take it in a heartbeat

>>2676937

Ah, this explains everything. I am glad /sci/ has such a strong understanding of evolution.