By Jennifer Lance •
October 24, 2009
For parents who were suckered into Disney’s Baby Einstein concept, the company has announced they will give full refunds on up to four videos. The basis of the refund is to compensate parents who actually believed the videos would make their children smarter. UPI reports:
The move comes after Disney’s Baby Einstein Co. last month announced “enhanced consumer satisfaction guarantees” after lawyers had threatened a class-action suit for false advertising. “The Walt Disney Company’s entire Baby Einstein marketing regime is based on express and implied claims that their videos are educational and beneficial for early childhood development,” a letter from the lawyers reportedly said.
By Cate Nelson •
June 10, 2009
In another odd study where correlation and causation seem very distantly related, researchers in Canada found that women who experienced morning sickness had children with higher IQs.
Researchers at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children say that these nausea-inducing bundles of joy later score higher on IQ tests.
And seriously, they say that the sicker the moms got, the higher the IQs.
It’s just one of life’s many tests, apparently.
By Cate Nelson •
May 26, 2009
Fast food isn’t only a dumb choice environmentally, it can actually harm kids’ test scores, too. Factory-farmed meat? All that packaging? No thanks.
But if living a greener life isn’t a good enough reason for you and your family to avoid the junk, perhaps this is: kids who regularly eat fast food score lower on tests. Some kids had their test scored drop on literacy and mathematical tests by 16 percent compared to the average.
Kerri Tobin, who oversaw the research, said,
It is possible that the types of food served at fast food restaurants cause cognitive difficulties that result in lower test scores.
Wow. Just can’t picture Mickey D’s using that in a marketing campaign anytime soon. But the corporate giant isn’t the only culprit…
By Cate Nelson •
March 27, 2009
Geniuses have something in common. I mean, besides snagging Nobels and the ability to solve endless Sudoku puzzles.
University of California researchers have found that many were “sickly” kids. They analyzed archival evidence from 70 studies, including data on 282 ultra-intelligent people. Study co-author Dean Keith Simonton, a professor of psychology, said of the findings:
We cannot always assume that good goes with good. We don’t necessarily have the smart, stable, and fit on one side and the dumb, unstable, and sick on the other.
By Cate Nelson •
January 20, 2009
Jesus was on to something…
A New Zealand study gives some insight on food for you smarty pants to-be parents. Kids with higher IQ consume fish at least once a week and the full four servings of breads and cereals daily. Oddly, those smart kids also had mamas who drank moderately during their pregnancies
Certain food also played a role in a lower IQ for kids. Singled out was margarine, which had strong links to lower scores.
By Jennifer Lance •
January 6, 2009
According to a University of Southampton study published by the British Medical Journal, children with high IQs become vegetarian adults. Dr Catharine Gale of the University’s MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre who led the study explains:
Those who were vegetarian by the age of 30 had scored five IQ points above average at the age of ten. This can be partly accounted for by better education and higher occupational social class, but it remained statistically significant after adjusting for these factors…
One explanation for the link between higher IQ and vegetarianism may be that brighter children grow up to think more about what they eat, which in some cases has led them to become vegetarians.
For parents who were suckered into Disney’s Baby Einstein concept, the company has announced they will give full refunds on up to four videos. The basis of the refund is to compensate parents who actually believed the videos would make their children smarter. UPI reports:
