The way the brain develops is more important than its size, according to a 2006 paper in the journal “Nature”.

A person’s cerebral cortex (the outermost part of the brain where thought and reasoning happen) gets thicker during childhood and thinner during adolescence. This study showed that the brains of children with higher IQs thickened faster than other children.

Other studies suggest that you inherit your intelligence (to some extent) from mom and dad. This is because the physical structure of the brain can be an inherited trait.

Nature vs. nurture is also a hot debate when it comes to intelligence. Can we develop into the next Einstein or Hawkings or is it written in our genes – full stop?

Speculate as we may, there’s still a huge grey area concerning what makes us smart. And we’re not smart enough to figure that one out just yet.