How to nurture a talented child

Very nice new article in Nature covering the work of ISIR leaders Camilla Benbow, David Lubinski, and others, and what inspired professor Julian Stanley to give brilliant but bored 12-year-old named Joseph Bates the SAT college-admissions exam, normally taken by university-bound 16- to 18-year-olds in the United States. The 12 year old scored at a level that would guarantee admission to Johns Hopkins, prompting 45 years (and counting) of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) and  transforming how gifted children are identified and supported by the ...

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Replicable genetic variants influencing school, and IQ

The social science genetics consortium has been working to uncover the genes associated with educational attainment. First, in 2013, with 127,000 subjects, they were able to produce a polygenic risk score (PRS) explaining 2% variance in total years of education. This doubled to 4% once they had convinced collaborators to contribute data from 329,000 subjects in a great paper by Okbay et al. reported on by The Atlantic as well as in Nature :-). Comfortingly, this PRS replicated in the open UKBiobank sample of 100,000 adults. Now grad-student Saskia Selzam working in the ...

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Why are we getting smarter (BBC)

The BBC radio show The Why Factor asks "Why are we getting smarter". This in-depth (18-minute) show features interviews with ISIR members Professor Jim Flynn and Dr Michael Woodley.

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2017: July 14-16 in Montreal

18th Annual meeting of ISIR: Montreal, Canada. July 14-16 Updates: YouTube videos of our keynote speakers, and distinguished awardees and guests! Professor Mat McGue: President's invited speaker keynote: Up now! Professor Jim Flynn: Lifetime achievement award lecture: Up now! Professors Camilla P. Benbow and David Lubinski: Keynote Lecture: Up now! Professor Steven Pinker: Distinguished Contributor Interview: Up now! Registration available on the 14th at the MNI (Montreal Neurological Institute, 3801, University St) in front of the De Granpré amphithe...

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What is intelligence?

CUP are hosting a "virtual round table" on intelligence... Two great interactions so far between three leading members of ISIR: Rich Haier, Bob Sternberg, and Jim Flynn What is intelligence? Can brain biology help explain IQ? the ultimate goal of all intelligence research is to understand how to increase intelligence

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