I disagree with the report in many ways. First, IQ is not static, I've taken three tests in three years and my score has fluctuated between 104 and 128 even though my daily intellect never changes. Secondly, those in education or in complex professions will score higher than those in manual jobs as they are more used to taking tests or solving the problems outlined on the tests; not because they are more intelligent. Thirdly, IQ does not take into account some of the most important aspects of career success, common sense, and the ability to organise and mutlitask. I find that many very intelligent men seem to have almost no common sense, or organisational ability. They may statistically have a higher IQ, but I am more intelligent. Darla Danya, London

I disagree with the article. It doesn't matter how large someone's brain is, it is more to do with environmental influence. In addition, it is questionable whether an IQ test is an adequate measure of intelligence. Christina Ware, Paget, Bermuda

As a biology professor, I totally agree with this study and before I get chastised by women, I'll point out to them that fundamentally this paper is correct. It's been accepted for decades that the bigger the brain, the more intelligent the species. So please don't argue in vain that the study is flawed or that the study group is too small. It's a simple fact that men are more intelligent that women. Where are the female DaVincis or Einsteins? I rest my case. Barry Heath, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

History has shown us that men have tended to provide the greatest scientific ideas, inventions and theories - Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein among the greatest. However, I think this is largely due to the social inertia of the pre-industrial revolution era in which the educational institutions were entirely male-dominated. It was because they had the opportunity to fulfil their intellectual capacities not, I imagine, as a result of that five IQ point shortfall on the part of women. I imagine that the next century will see our educational and research institutions more balanced in their constitution, and this will eventually be reflected in scientific output, with women carrying their weight. Imran Yusuf, Wilmslow

Surely intellegence, like most things, differs from person to person and the fact that on average men have higher intellegence has no impact on life as we know it. I am reminded of being called a bimbo at school due to my blonde hair, despite having an IQ of 133. We need to learn that streotyping people based on such things is a waste of time. Natalie Wehden, Nottingham

Barry Heath - what about the brains of elephants and whales? They are bigger than ours, so are they more intelligent than humans? Biology Professor? The IQ test claims to quantify the unquantifiable - human intelligence. Why do we keep reading about this hocus pocus? It is no measure of anything. Raymond Knight, Los Angeles, California

The female DaVincis and Einsteins didn't have the privilege of education, opportunity, funding or private sponsorship, which was mainly due to the narrow-minded attitudes of such learned scholars as Professor Heath, Nova Scotia. They were therefore destined to be the ones raising the children, being the glue holding their communities together, and caring for their menfolk, who were doubtless exhausted by the weight of their brains and the ineffable burden of being the master race. Lauren Turner, London

We shouldn't reject research findings in haste - good knowledge is often founded upon a thorough examination of the available data and objections of any outcome should be based on a critical review of the quality of the research arguments instead of being purely visceral. Relevance and applicability of research findings are a different matter altogether. Cookie Liu, Reading

I wonder if the scientists will be allowed to stay on in their jobs after this. The notion that everyone is equal is an ideological cocoon we have invented out of social sensitivity and a misunderstood sense of politeness and chivalry, and whenever science suggests, nay, proves, that which is ideologically in the bad taste, we shut our eyes and pretend nothing has happened. We frequently read that women are smarter, cleverer, better at certain things than men, but when the pendulum swings, and it is suggested that there are certain things men do better than women, outrage follows. We react in this peculiar way because, with years of suppression of women in mind, it is simply not PC for men to boast about their superiority in certain fields. Which proves that the playing field is not, and can probably never be, level. Long live the difference! Frank Brevik, Lafayette, Louisiana

Decades of life experience have buoyed my female self-esteem to such heights that I have no problem whatsoever contemplating the fact that men may have brain characteristics making them abler than women to perform some tasks. However, anyone who's been around for a while should realise that men definitely don't outshine women in sense, judgment, aptitude for analysis and so forth (and I'm not insinuating here that they are only fit for geometry!). So, girls, aren't you thrilled that we can so frequently outsmart creatures with a higher IQ than us? Cathy Hsu, Taipei, Taiwan

Surely, if there can be any conclusions drawn from this study - it merely shows that chaps are better at IQ tests? Name and address withheld

The men who did this study demonstrate they have a particular kind of intelligence - possibly "logical sequential".They need to read Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences to have a true understanding of the many different ways men and women learn and perform. Their study based on size is one dimensional. Time to take your noses out of the research chaps and do a little intelligent reading. Frances Ross, Vancouver, Canada