[diziet]

I'm really curious as to how exactly they accounted for other factors. They say they compared findings to other studies that looked at other possible explanations, but quite many of them are certainly correlated if not caused by one another.

[joubert]

one can deduce how two kinds of organisms have influenced each other by studying how their respective gene pools (have) co-evolve(d)

[zppx]

Statically the problem that he posed is still there, what are the variables they ignored when calculating the statistical significance of their hypothesis? I actually read the paper, and well, it was one of the worst that I have read in my entire life. In the end of the paper they wrote: "We are not arguing that global variation in intelligence is only caused by parasite stress."

So why is the point of having a research about causation when various independent causes can exist and do not test how much the hypothetical cause affects the causation relationship in general? Should I publish a paper on intelligence and ice cream consumption by population in the last 50 years to show how ridiculous the entire situation is?

Sounds like that sort of paper that someone publishes only so that his name get cited more times.