The Icelandic company deCODE conducted a study in which it showed that in the national population, the proportion of genes associated with the acquisition of education is decreasing. The corresponding study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, briefly reported by The Guardian.
The company's specialists used data on more than one hundred thousand Icelanders, collected in 1910-1975. During this time, as studies have shown, the frequency of the appearance of genes in the population, one way or another related to school, decreased.
At the same time, experts found that smart people, that is, those who, according to the authors' publication, are inclined to receive an education, on average, have six percent fewer children than others.
Experts see the reason for the observed pattern in the fact that people with genes that contribute to learning are more focused on their own development, and not on procreation. This, according to scientists, subsequently leads to a decrease in the proportion of their genes in a population relatively isolated from the mainland.
Meanwhile, the described effect of population degradation is extremely small. According to scientists, the average IQ of Icelanders over a decade falls by a maximum of 0.04 points. Separately, deCODE specialists note that not only genes are responsible for mental development, but also the environment, in particular the family.