Einstein often invoked God in his criticism of quantum physics. Pope Pius XII enthusiastically promoted the Big Band as supporting the book of Genesis until the Vatican overlords told him to stop saying that because it might be later disproved.
Corey Powell, the Editor in Chief, ends the editorial by quoting Einstein using the philosophy of Spinoza. Einstein said in 1932,
"In my opinion, his point of view has not gained general acceptance by all those striving for clarity and logical rigor only because it requires not only consistency of thought, but also unusual integrity, magnanimity, and modesty."
The Wall Street Journal published an interesting study that showed that two babies with similar IQs at age of 10 months vary considerably at age 2 depending on how much stimulation they get during this time. France and Sweden apparently realize its importance so have professional and well trained people at centers at a low price to take care of babies and children. France allows one year off and provides help for the mother. Sweden allows about two years off paid leave. See www.dylanratigan.com about our educational system.
Early divorce probably lowers the IQ of the child.
The Wall Street Journal also had an article written by what an upscale mother has to do to get their children into Ivy League colleges. Its very expensive starting with a $30,000 per year private school. Hiring the best tutors, some costing $600 for a few sessions, high application fees, SAT courses to learn obscure vocabulary words and testing techniques. She said donating lots of money helps too or being the children of alumni.
She went through hell to get them into the so called best schools which is probably a lot like the University of Tokyo where all the study in high school and special schools and competitive tests allows them to socialize and make contacts. Similarly many Harvard students do not attend classes according to Hacker, an educator who wrote a book on the myth of these best schools.
Jim Kawakami, Feb 8, 2011, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com
Junk food diet linked to lower IQ By Agence France-Presse Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 -- 8:21 am The paper appears in the peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published by the British Medical Association (BMA). PARIS – http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/junk-food-diet-linked-iq/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=ea566f2532-2_8_112_8_2011&utm_medium=email Toddlers who have a diet high in processed foods may have a slightly lower IQ in later life, according to a British study described as the biggest research of its kind.
The conclusion, published on Monday, comes from a long-term investigation into 14,000 people born in western England in 1991 and 1992 whose health and well-being were monitored at the ages of three, four, seven and eight and a half.
Parents of the children were asked to fill out questionnaires that, among other things, detailed the kind of food and drink their children consumed.
Three dietary patterns emerged: one was high in processed fats and sugar; then there was a "traditional" diet high in meat and vegetables; and finally a "health-conscious" diet with lots of salad, fruit and vegetables, pasta and rice.
When the children were eight and a half, their IQ was measured using a standard tool called the Wechsler Intelligence Scale.
The 20 percent of children who ate the most processed food had an average IQ of 101 points, compared with 106 for the 20 percent of children who ate the most "health-conscious" food.Of the 4,000 children for which there were complete data, there was a significant difference in IQ among those who had had the "processed" as opposed to the "health-conscious" diets in early childhood.
"It's a very small difference, it's not a vast difference," said one of the authors, Pauline Emmett of the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol.
"But it does make them less able to cope with education, less able to cope with some of the things in life."
The association between IQ and nutrition is a strongly debated issue because it can be skewed by many factors, including economic and social background.
A middle-class family, for instance, may arguably be more keen (or more financially able) to put a healthier meal on the table, or be pushier about stimulating their child, compared to a poorer household.
Emmett said the team took special care to filter out such confounders.
"We have controlled for maternal education, for maternal social class, age, whether they live in council housing, life events, anything going wrong, the home environment, with books and use of television and things like that," she said.
The size of the study, too, was unprecedented.
"It's a huge sample, it's much much bigger than anything anyone else has done," she said in an interview with AFP.
Emmett said further work was needed to see whether this apparent impact on IQ persisted as the children got older.
Asked why junk food had such an effect, she suggested a diet that was preponderantly processed could lack vital vitamins and elements for cerebral development at a key stage in early childhood.
"A junk food diet is not conducive to good brain development," she said.
The paper appears in the peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published by the British Medical Association (BMA).
Big Bang
ReplyDeleteThe results showed that after taking account of potentially influential factors, a predominantly processed food diet at the age of 3 was associated with a lower IQ at the age of 8.5, irrespective of whether the diet improved after that age. Every 1 point increase in dietary pattern score was associated with a 1.67 fall in IQ.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, a healthy diet was associated with a higher IQ at the age of 8.5, with every 1 point increase in dietary pattern linked to a 1.2 increase in IQ. Dietary patterns between the ages of 4 and 7 had no impact on IQ.
The authors say that these findings, although modest, are in line with previous ALSPAC research showing an association between early childhood diet and later behaviour and school performance.
"This suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake," they say.
The brain grows at its fastest rate during the first three years of life, say the authors, by way of a possible explanation for the findings, adding that other research has indicated that head growth at this time is linked to intellectual ability.
"It is possible that good nutrition during this period may encourage optimal brain growth," they suggest, advocating further research to determine the extent of the effect early diet has on intelligence. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110207225943.htm