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The quality of a man's sperm and his intelligence are correlated, according to a study by University of New Mexico evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller.
"It was found that men who scored high on a battery of intelligence tests boasted high counts of healthy sperm," Miller was quoted as saying. His team used data gathered in 1985 for assessment of the aftermath of the Vietnam War, especially the effects of exposure to Agent Orange. Among 4,402 war veterans tested, 425 provided sperm samples. The participants were given verbal and arithmetic tests. The researchers correlated samples with their donors' test results and found those who had higher test scores had more sperm and greater sperm motility.
The level of intelligence and quality of sperm "could be linked through a tangled web of biological and environmental interactions that has evolved to help women pick a mate," said Miller. He added that since nearly half of human genes are created in the brain, brighter people may have better genes.
Miller also said that intelligence could have been one of many traits that women used to evaluate the value of men for the past 2 million years of evolution, adding that one study showed women tend to go after smart men whether they are looking for a marriage partner or just a partner for one-night stand.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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