If you put any stock in the ability of IQ tests to assess intelligence, we humans have spent the past century steadily getting smarter. (And if you don’t put any stock in them, well, we humans have steadily gotten better at IQ tests.)
Because IQ is a standardized measure, humankind’s average score still sits at 100—but this isn’t your granddaddy’s 100. IQ tests are regularly recalibrated, and over the past many decades, when new subjects have taken an old test, they have almost always outscored their predecessors’ average; Grandpa’s generation might have hovered around 100, but the kids are scoring 115 … which then becomes the new 100.
This phenomenon is called the Flynn effect, and researchers still aren’t sure what causes it. Perhaps it’s due to more efficient education or better nutrition. The reason could be that modern environments contain more interesting stimuli or that modern gasoline no longer contains lead.
I haven’t seen anyone propose that trivia is to thank, but the growing popularity of quizzing tracks with the IQ trend line pretty well too. I think I speak for all of science when I say we shouldn’t rule it out quite yet.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- What name is shared by the city that’s home to the oldest continuously operating university in North America and the one that’s home to Europe’s third-oldest?
— From Rose Horowitch’s article about elite universities’ satellite campuses - All major categories of competition at this year’s Winter Olympics feature mixed-gender events, save for what sport considered too dangerous for the combining of men and women?
— From Christie Aschwanden’s essay on these Olympics’ boon to women’s sports - By what colorful name did Jesse Jackson refer to his vision of Americans of all creeds, races, and backgrounds uniting to overcome inequality?
— From Adam Serwer’s essay reflecting on Jackson’s legacy after his death this week
And by the way, did you know that the University of Bologna is nearly a millennium old? It’s the world’s oldest university that was founded as such (at least one older university started as a madrasa), and its alumni include Copernicus, Dante, and more than one pope.
Imagine trying to write a halfway-decent poem for an assignment, and your classmate turns in the Divine Comedy. Then again, at least you’d have had a leg up on Copernicus, who probably got marked off plenty for insisting that the Earth actually orbits the sun.
Until tomorrow.
Answers:
- Cambridge. Time was, colleges stuck to the spot where they were built, and globally recognized elite schools mostly still do (see Harvard and Britain’s Cambridge staying put). But Rose reports that more and more universities just below that top tier are trying to burnish their reputation by creating a network of fully fledged satellite campuses. Read more.
- Ice hockey. Aschwanden writes that gender mixing in the Olympics has steadily increased over recent Games and has probably done more to raise female athletes’ profiles than events featuring women alone. Read more.
- The Rainbow Coalition. Adam writes that Jackson’s opponents did their best to turn him into “an anti-white, anti-Semitic demagogue” but that this caricature never reflected the actual man, who was steadfastly committed to egalitarianism. It’s easy to be cynical about Jackson, Adam writes. Don’t be. Read more.
How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions, and if you think up a great question after reading an Atlantic story—or simply want to share a fact—send it my way at [email protected].
