4 ms·
An unlikely but sadly possible explanation is COVID itself. We know even mild cases cause loss of brain mass.[1] There are no studies (to my knowledge) in wheth
by mach1ne 4y ago
An unlikely but sadly possible explanation is COVID itself. We know even mild cases cause loss of brain mass.[1] There are no studies (to my knowledge) in whether sequential infections cause this loss every time, and whether the brain mass is replaced in between.
Worst case, everyone gets slightly dumber each time they catch COVID. First sight of this would be a general decrease in IQ tests across population, as we're seeing here.
Still, I'd place a fairly low probability of this being the case, simply because we're not yet seeing any more severe effets.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2022/03/21/a-case-of-shrunken-brains-how-covid-19-may-damage-brain-cells/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2022/03/21/a-c...
- LeonB 4y agoThe study is about data from 2006 to 2018, predating the covid epidemic.
- mach1ne 4y agoIt is not. "Comparing brain volume before and after individuals were exposed to SARS-CoV-2, this study documents significant cortical gray matter loss, equivalent to nearly 10 years of aging." [1]
- LeonB 4y agoI’m not talking about the study which you provided a link to — I’m talking about the study which you are replying to — i.e. the feature article — https://phys.org/news/2023-03-online-iq-scores-century.html https://phys.org/news/2023-03-online-iq-scores-century.html
- mach1ne 4y agoAh. My bad, thank you for clearing that up. This also nullifies the usage of this type of datapoint in supporting the hypothesis I mentioned above.