Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
I’ve done a bit of research on this, and so far have found no strong evidence either proving or disproving this. I could simply say that the burden of proof should rest on the people making this claim, but that’s perhaps a bit of a cop out.
The most interesting response to this mystery is on an ‘ezine @rticles’ page, ‘Why Do Smart People Have More Zinc and Copper in Their Hair?’ by Lance Winslow, who starts by suggesting that this is a ‘commonly known fact’ (which always makes me suspicious):
If a pilot, soldier or racecar driver put copper and zinc in their helmet would that help make them smarter or is it from the body discharging the heavy metals easily from the body that makes the brain work better. If so, if you reduced you zinc and copper in your blood thru filtration, could you increase cognition? Are some blood types, which filter better causing this? Thus certain blood types are the cause of more intelligence and not necessarily the zinc or copper its self? Think on this in 2006.
Sounds a bit mad if you ask me, but that’s the internet for you.
Another website claimed that this is the cause of a blonde myth:
A silly story often ciculates that Intelligent People have more Zinc and Copper in their hair. Brown and Red is a Copper Color, so this explains why blondes are dumb? This myth is ridiculous.
Indeed.
Finally, the question of whether this ‘factoid’ is true or not was put to the community of student.com, with the response that 141 people (40%) thought it was true, and 211 (60%) thought it was false. They do claim that the ‘answer’ is that it is true, but then they could have just read that somewhere else on the internet.
So overall, this is so far inconclusive, rather annoyingly.
The case continues.
on September 26th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Well, perhaps the copper in the hair of intellectual people has not been scientifically proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but that does not mean we should dismiss this observation as a myth, rather I would invite further study. Indeed, this is why I suggested that “perhaps” if this is true, we might use this to our advantage in a technologically advanced way. That is using such speculation to propel thought? There is nothing wrong with that.
on December 4th, 2007 at 6:31 am
‘Factoid’ Originated as “facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper” and will continue to confuse and annoy people like me with it growing to have 2 opposite meanings. See: http://word-detective.com/101800.html#factoid
word-detective.com also refutes all but the ‘ps and qs’ (origin unknown, but English Pubs are possible) etymologies in this email.
on August 14th, 2008 at 1:21 am
hmm, i got curious about this strange claim after receiving a “curious facts” list in email from a friend.
and Lance, i have to say i found your ezine article completely goofy. hair antennae and copper foil deflector beanies? seriously, man? i would address it on your forum, but the link you gave here appears to be dead now. and the thing i wanted most to find was a reference, but first hits from google like this appear to be worthless.
in any case, assuming i do eventually find a reference, i think Shujing may be more on the right track. http://www.blurtit.com/q735674.html almost. i think it may be more a case of having higher copper and zinc in ones diet downregulates absorption of copper and zinc. this sounds counterintuitive, but it is actually negative feedback to achieve homeostasis of those minerals. it has a secondary effect, though. toxic minerals that are chemically similar to copper and zinc are also reduced in absorption. so malnourished individuals exposed to toxic metals actually absorb more dangerous minerals than healthy folk!
on September 12th, 2008 at 6:20 am
I have copper hair color, but I don’t believe that makes my intelligence higher than a black or blonde haired person. It’s all biological. Both my parents are highly accomplished MIT graduates, so if my intelligence is considered abnormal, it has nothing to do with my hair color. But then again, has their been any studies on the relationships between intelligence and other hair colors?
on October 16th, 2008 at 1:45 am
No offense, Sarah, but your “intelligence” appears to be average. It is your spelling and grammar skills that are abnormal for someone claiming to be the daughter of two MIT graduates.