In 2005 Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending, both from the University of Utah, wrote a paper entitled "The Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence."
In it they suggested that Ashkenazi Jews* have the highest intelligence out of any ethnic group in the world - because of certain diseases like gaucher's and torsion dystonia, which have both been associated with giving their carriers higher intelligence (if they only carry one copy of the gene. If they carry two copies of it then they die in early childhood.)
Ashkenazi Jews aren't the only ones who carry those diseases, but they carry them with a higher frequency than any other ethnic group in the world. Just like Africans carry high sickle cell gene frequencies. (That was developed in certain places in Africa as a natural protection against malaria.)
Now their paper was written in 2005. It's been 5 years and their hypothesis has so far not been tested. All you would need to do in the study is get pairs of siblings of Ashkenazi Jews and see which ones carry the possibly intelligence raising diseases. If the sibling with the disease has a higher IQ than their sibling that doesn't carry the diseases then the hypothesis is right.
If the sibling without the disease has a higher IQ than their sibling that doesn't carry the diseases then the hypothesis is wrong.
Why are scientists afraid to do this study? Because intelligence makes people uncomfortable? Scientists are ready to do anything that proves religious people's ideas wrong. The idea of evolution, the earth being billions of years old, life not being created by God, etc. make billions of people around the world uncomfortable.
* Note that the diseases are only very prevalent in Ashkenazi Jews. Ashkenazi Jews are Jews descended from Middle and Eastern Europe.
There are also Mizrachi Jews (Jews descended from Arab countries who don't have the diseases) and Sephardi Jews (Jews descended from Spain/Portugal).
In it they suggested that Ashkenazi Jews* have the highest intelligence out of any ethnic group in the world - because of certain diseases like gaucher's and torsion dystonia, which have both been associated with giving their carriers higher intelligence (if they only carry one copy of the gene. If they carry two copies of it then they die in early childhood.)
Ashkenazi Jews aren't the only ones who carry those diseases, but they carry them with a higher frequency than any other ethnic group in the world. Just like Africans carry high sickle cell gene frequencies. (That was developed in certain places in Africa as a natural protection against malaria.)
Now their paper was written in 2005. It's been 5 years and their hypothesis has so far not been tested. All you would need to do in the study is get pairs of siblings of Ashkenazi Jews and see which ones carry the possibly intelligence raising diseases. If the sibling with the disease has a higher IQ than their sibling that doesn't carry the diseases then the hypothesis is right.
If the sibling without the disease has a higher IQ than their sibling that doesn't carry the diseases then the hypothesis is wrong.
Why are scientists afraid to do this study? Because intelligence makes people uncomfortable? Scientists are ready to do anything that proves religious people's ideas wrong. The idea of evolution, the earth being billions of years old, life not being created by God, etc. make billions of people around the world uncomfortable.
* Note that the diseases are only very prevalent in Ashkenazi Jews. Ashkenazi Jews are Jews descended from Middle and Eastern Europe.
There are also Mizrachi Jews (Jews descended from Arab countries who don't have the diseases) and Sephardi Jews (Jews descended from Spain/Portugal).