But does it stand to reason?

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 7/30/06, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From slash dot:
>
> [0]joeljkp writes "The New York Times has an article up discussing how
> modern humans are 'So Big and Healthy Nowadays That Grandpa Wouldn't Even
> Know You.' Despite the hyperbole, the article makes several excellent
> points regarding [1]the impact of antibiotics and modern medicine on
> humans in their youth. The 'baby boomers' of today have an overall level
> of health far higher than their parents did in middle age, and
>
>  _reason stands_
>
> that their children will have even better health to look forward
> to." From the article: "The biggest surprise emerging from the new
> studies is that many chronic ailments like heart disease, lung disease
> and arthritis are occurring an average of 10 to 25 years later than they
> used to. There is also less disability among older people today,
> according to a federal study that directly measures it. And that is not
> just because medical treatments like cataract surgery keep people
> functioning. Human bodies are simply not breaking down the way they did
> before. Even the human mind seems improved. The average I.Q. has been
> increasing for decades, and at least one study found that a person's
> chances of having dementia in old age appeared to have fallen in recent
> years."
>
> Discuss this story at:
>    http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/07/29/1727239
>
> Links:
>    0. mailto:jjk3 at msstate.edu
>    1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/health/30age.html?hp&ex=1154232000&en=a8f44bc2e9318699&ei=5094&partner=homepage
>
> Big "Oops!" arnold. I looked at only a reference, not at the original.
> The article is in today's *Sunday* Times, front page, top left corner.

The passage with "reason stands" is from a paraphrase by the slashdot
correspondent, not from the NYT article.


--Ben Zimmer

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