Scientists at Berkeley hooked up a bunch of wires to a bunch of 9- and 10-year-old rich and poor kids and have discovered that the poor ones might as well have been hit over the head with a shovel. Says one: "Kids from lower socioeconomic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult." One more reason to hate the rich.
According to the release, "normal 9- and 10-year-olds differing only in socioeconomic status have detectable differences in the response of their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is critical for problem solving and creativity." Luckily (and of course) science thinks it can solve this problem that doesn't involve rescuing the poor kids from poverty: "We think that with proper intervention and training, you could get improvement in both behavioral and physiological indices." We have a better idea: give poor kids money.
