[ktta]

I think he/she means to say we never know what they are doing later in life most of the time. I assume you've seen stories about kids who are very intelligent and there would've been news about child prodigies every year since decades so why don't we hear about the ones who are adults today?

My take is that there are those child prodigies making great scientific progress but we don't hear about them because they want to keep their past private.

Although I agree the quotes kinda give a doubtful vibe to the child's prodigy, which I definitely disagree with.

[magic_beans]

I think the real issue is that once child prodigies turn into adult prodigies, their stories are much less interesting. Of course the WP is going to write a story about a 12 year-old genius, but readers won't be so interested in a 24 year-old wunderkind.