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The old adage(bemoaned by women everywhere) that, too often, men think with that particular lower organ, rather than the one inside their head may actually have some truth, after all. A study on the quality of sperm, published in Intelligence by Rosalind Arden of King’s College, has study the relationship between men's intelligence and quality of sperm and the results indicate that men with higher intelligence have better quality sperm.
Ms Arden and her fellow researchers wanted to determine how intelligence, genetics, and health are related. Psychologists measure general intelligence using a value called Spearman's g. Recent studies have shown that a person's g value is correlated with several characteristics of his health, i.e., life span. One possible explanation is that intelligent men are likely to make smarter lifestyle choices (don't smoke, exercise often, eat vegetables - not Doritos.)
However, many evolutionary biologists are convinced that genetic "fitness" (in Darwinian terms, that means the ability to survive) is what determines a man's health, not just making good choices. Therefore Ms Arden, eager to test this hypothesis, chose to study sperm because it would measure any possible genetic relationship between intelligence and health - and leave out any consideration of lifestyle choices. Using data from Vietnam War veterans who had provided semen samples for the Vietnam Experience Study, she was able to learn whether the g values of these men would correlate with their sperm quality. It turns out, they did. Smart men have better sperm.
According to Darwinian theory, they therefore have fitter bodies and a better ability to surive, attract the opposite sex, and produce children.
However, Arden cautions anyone from taking this information too literally. She says, "Throughout history, as far as we know it, most men and women have ended up having some children. It's the people who are at least average and a little bit above average who tend to have more children."
"It's not necessarily that women are going to favor men who are going to be rocket scientists, fantastically intelligent, fantastically cool," Arden added. "They might just say, 'I'd rather not have the guy who has a whole suite of unpleasant characteristics, I'd rather have the guy who is at least average."
So, ladies... Love the man you're with.
Sources: Reuters & The Economist
