You write that “50% of variability in intelligence seems to be inherited” (Nature 502, 26–28; 2013). This figure is derived from quantitative genetic studies that do not seem to be founded on sound scientific reasoning.

It is unlikely that quantitative genetics can be reasonably applied to mental traits in humans. There can be no single value, or even range of values, for the heritability of intelligence, because environmental differences vary vastly between populations — consequently, published values for the heritability of intelligence range between 0% and 100%.

Indeed, the heritability of intelligence has little to do with its malleability — so why estimate it in the first place? The whole idea seems brain-dead to me.