Dinosaur extinction, the evolution of mammals and future threats from climate change will be discussed at the conference, the university said.

BBC: 'Big' palaeontology conference at Plymouth University

Previous work has offered income, education, low levels of agricultural labour (which is replaced by more mentally stimulating jobs), climate (the challenge of surviving cold weather might provoke the evolution of intelligence) and even distance from humanity's African homeland (novel environments could encourage greater intelligence) as explanations for national differences in IQ.

ECONOMIST: Disease and intelligence