Next study will correlate penis size and muscle mass with intelligence in men. But, of course that would be absurd, right? it's embarassing that so many women who've posted comments on this article eagerly embrace the idea of being studied like a farm cow.

jc, London,

The fact that someone received a grant to study the body of women and how that relates to intelligence is frightening. That there is a discussion of women's bodies that goes unquestioned is sadenning. This is pseudo-science and needs to be put away in the archives with anthropometry (which this clearly is!) and eugenics.

dg, New York, NY

This article is true for my sister and me. We both have waist-to-hip ratios of around 0.7 (mine's 0.6944) and IQs in the gifted range. However, I also know a lot of very smart people in my university who have higher WHRs than mine. Besides, doesn't a woman's figure depend more heavily on bone structure than on body fat?

nina, London,

i think pear-shaped women would still fit into this "finding." Afterall, the article and the "research" citied say nothing about bust size. What matters is the waist to hip ratio. Pears have got the hip to waist ratio going for them...

JEA, PHX, AZ

Why can't you people just let the curvy people have their day? After years of torment I personally like the fact that I'm getting recognition.

Danielle, Brooklyn, NY, USA

I also read a 'study' that found the hour-glass figure was the least common body shape among UK women. Pears, apples etc. far out-numbered them. So does that mean most women have inferior IQs? Like we don't have enough pressure on our appearances now these quack scientist want to infer quite simplistically and crudely that if we don't look like vargas pin-ups we must have rubbish brains? and that photo of sophia loren quite obviously showed her in a corset so tight she most likely passed out soon after the shot. now i would never be called "curvy" on account of being quite slim, but i do indeed have a 0.7 waist-hip whatever and apparently so does kate moss as well as marilyn monroe. This article is completely misleading.

GC, London, UK

First - I don’t see where the racism comment is coming from? Where ever do you see race coming into play in this article?

Second- having the research completed by an Epidemiology and Anthropology Graduate studies would probably NOT be the right venue to cure a disease.

Yes, statistics can be manipulated to say what you want…but if the study is performed properly, numbers don’t lie. Statistical tests are developed to determine significance, using a test statistic, which determines if the sample groups are from the same population or not. This is called a Hypothesis test of the sample means. This hypothesis test works best if the subjects are sampled RANDOMLY, which it appears was done correctly: Single, married, young, old, skinny, straight, curvy, chubby, smart, not so smart….etc. The researchers then used a sample of sizeable measure, 16000 people!!! The central limit theorem states that the bigger your sample the better your sample represents a normal distribution.

Third- hats off to the team and their discovery! I know this smart(3 degrees, Bachelors, 2 Masters), curvy(0.7), blonde(real), physically fit(workout everyday), beautiful woman with brilliant children is happy to see that someone is interested in discovering there is more to the junk in my trunk.

Kris, Syracuse, NY / USA

both Rachel Weisz and Nigella are Jewish - maybe that's why they're intelligent - Ashkenazi Jews have higher than average IQs.

Curvy Jewess, London,

Sounds a bit racist given the black hip to waist ratio.

Eugene, Chester, England

I'd like to do some research relating penis size to intelligence...........

AC, Bath, UK

Correlation is not causation! Anyone should know that. So, the data may well be good, but their interpretations sound like wild guesses.

Here's a scenario that might be true (and any good biologist could easily concoct thirty more): suppose depressed women score poorly on their cognitive tests, and suppose depressed women over-eat and under-exercise and become chubbier.

Then you get a population of low-scoring depressed women with waists as wide as their hips, compared with a higher-scoring, non-depressed, more active population with smaller waists.

The scenario above might or might not be true, but it points out the basic problem with the interpretations that are so often put on this kind of research. Often, there are too many possible explanations for the data and only the most interesting story gets told.

One other thing: I'm willing to bet that the effect on intelligence is tiny. Really tiny. If it were big enough to matter, they wouldn't need 16000 subjects...

Greg Kochanski, Oxford, UK

An interesting point on this which I don't think has been highlighted much or at all is the fact that there's a correlation between the cognitive ability of the parents (in this case, the mothers) and their children.

Various studies have found this over the years but the PC brigade always lecture us that intelligence and cognitive ability is purely based on your environment and upbringing.

Tom, Dublin, Ireland

let's not imagine that the report means that women and their children can't be intelligent for other reasons.

probably they envision

probability of being intelligent = c0f0 + c1f1 + c2f2 + c3f3 + c4f4 + c5f5 + . . .

where fn is a score for a certain factor, be it environmental, genetic, curviness, smoking, wearing a bonnet, &c, and cn is the weight coefficient for that factor.

when they conclude that curviness, f34, is a significant factor, it isn't to discount the importance of getting enough vitamins or having an intelligent husband, it only means that it will make a difference when all other factors are equal.

Jesse Lovegren, Austin, USA

My son forwarded this article to me, his curvy mother, to explain why I have four handsome and very intelligent sons. He told me to go ahead and have another piece of cheesecake. Hey! I'm perfectly happy to accept this as pure and conclusive science. Let's inject a little humor in this, ok?
Sharon, Midway, UT, USA
P.S. I'm blonde and have five teaching credentials.

Sharon Drake, Midway, USA/UT

As a curvy woman, can I say that this sounds like a totally credible piece of research and completely convincing. I'm going to send this article to all my skinny friends!

Sue B, Pontypridd, Wales

Aren't there alternative explanations for the finding? Maybe women whose physical attributes give them an easier time, than the average, in attracting relationships and support (from the men of their choosing) are happier and less stressed and better supported. If so, then this advantage in their personal lives could have spin-off benefits in other things they try to do: such as their academic performance and in their physical health and performance as mothers. I'm not saying that I can know this alternative proposition is true, but how can you rule it out? It's perfectly plausible, isn't it?

Why don't researchers ever seem to notice these alternative explanations, which seem always present whenever results on medicine, psychology or social science are reported in the press? Or is it just that their actual statements are badly reported?

Dave, London,

TS, what're you doing for dinner tomorrow night?

Ty, Bath,

So, instead of spending money on research to cure terrible diseases or new energy sources to save our civilization we are giving these fools money to find out why men like curvy women? Why are we wasting our resources, this way? These scientists should be on the unemployment line until they come up with something worthy to research.
Another thing : What about women who are born with hour glass figures, gain weight, lose it- lose weight, gain it back - does our I.Q. go up & down with our waists? I don't think so. My hour glass hasn't been steady but my I. Q. is.
I don't trust statistics - particularly, when they are used to prove this kind of nonsensical & pointless gibberish - they are in the eye of the beholder and can be used to prove two dirrect opposites. I don't think this is real science.

Kathleen Mary, Federal Way , USA/ WA

Another spurious interpretation of "research". This psuedo academic stuff if produced to bolster the RAE Research Assessment Exercise. Generalisations for the press make "stars" of the writers. All helps their careers but not an expansion of human knowledge.

jfleming, whittlesey, CAMBRIDGESHIRE

Alternatively attractive women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.7 (shown to be the most desirable to potential mates) would be able to select the best mate, and the best mate would be intelligent and therefore able to provide well for their family, consequently the children would also be intelligent, I believe its called natural selection? perhaps I am wrong, but I have a waist to hip ratio of 0.7 so probably not!

TS, Bath, UK

true but i still think blonde girls are not clever curvy or not!

cedric, rustenburg, south africa