42: The Answer to Almost Everything — Season 1, Episode 31: Are we getting dumber?

Episode synopsis

The Flynn effect showed an increase in intelligence scores since the 20th century. However, since the turn of the millennium, some IQ scores have been declining, and researchers are searching for explanations. Theories include "dysgenics," in which families with academic backgrounds tend to have fewer children, as well as the influence of migrants from disadvantaged backgrounds.

About 42: The Answer to Almost Everything

What would we be without mucus? Can we live on water? How much does life weigh? Finding out the answers is the aim of ARTE's new science show. In a nod to Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", where the figure 42 is the ultimate answer to all questions, 42 tries to provide the answers.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Can we dig our way through the Earth?
• E2Could We Live on the Moon?
• E3Should we use lotteries instead of elections?
• E4How Much Does Life Weigh?
• E5Will we move onto the water?
• E6Can Algorithms Make Us Healthy?
• E7What if there were no mucus?
• E8How do we solve the nuclear waste puzzle?
• E9What if Fear Didn't Exist?
• E10What if the ice disappeared?
• E11Do We All hear the Same Thing?
• E12Are we too pessimistic?