Ridiculous History

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IQ Tests are (Kind of) Dumb

Have you ever taken an IQ test? Originally envisioned as a way to determine which French children should be locked in asylums, Alfred Binet's attempt to quantify human intelligence took the modern world by storm. Yet, as Ben, Noel and Max ask in this follow-up to lead exposure: How accurate are the IQ tests? Are they genuinely accurate, or, ironically enough... their own sort of dumb? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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  Did Lead Lead to the Fall of the Roman Empire?

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  CLASSIC: California Schoolchildren and the Great Squirrel War

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  Don’t Be a Schmo Yo, Try a Yoyo!

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  The Ridiculous Secret of "Supreme" Pizza

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  CLASSIC: When West Virginia Begged the USSR for Foreign Aid

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  Knitting as Espionage, Part Two: Legendary Spies -- and One Traitor

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  Knitting as Espionage, Part One: Secrets in the Stitch

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  CLASSIC: Idiomatic for the People II, Part II

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  Inventors Who Died Due To Their Own Inventions: The Irrational Death of Hi…

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  The Spiritualism Movement Was Utterly Ridiculous, Part Two: Con Artists, S…

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  CLASSIC: Idiomatic for the People II, Part I: What's in a word?

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  The Spiritualism Movement Was Utterly Ridiculous, Part One: A Prank Goes V…

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  History's Weirdest National Anthems

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  CLASSIC: The Statue of Liberty Almost Lived in Egypt

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  Vacuum Cleaners are Ridiculous!