British geneticists have discovered a correlation between the longevity of parents and cognitive abilities of their children by studying populations in Israel, Sweden and the UK, TASS reports
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Scientists at the University of Edinburgh analysed genome-wide data to investigate how genetic differences affect intelligence in 12,000 children and longevity in 389,000 adults. They discovered an intriguing trend: children with higher intelligence tend to live longer on average and have a 24 percent lower mortality rate from various causes compared to their peers with lower IQs.
Assuming that this phenomenon might have a genetic basis, the scientists analysed and compared the mutation sets identified during these observations using a specialised method. Their analysis revealed that both longevity and children’s intelligence are significantly influenced by variations in gene structure. Moreover, this connection remained evident even after accounting for all confounding factors and differences among the populations involved in each study.
The researchers believe that future experiments in this area will help pinpoint the specific parts of the genome that most influence longevity and intelligence, as well as reveal the mechanisms through which they affect the human brain and body.