The following article appeared in the Sun-Herald on Sunday, March 2, 1995.
| Too big for our boots! | |
|---|---|
| Australians and New Zealanders are growing up. Accroding to genetic scientists at Germany's Karlsruhe Univerisyt, anitpodeans lead the world in human growth rates.
And by 2060, the average man will stand 1.93m (six feet three inches). Project leader Professor Georg Kenntner has been studying the records of 2000 medical students going back 75 years.
|
His findings show that a combination of diet, race and warmer weather means southern hemisphere nations are fast breeding a race of giants. "White people in these countries are genetically the same as Europeans," he said. "Yet these descendants of Europeans are taller."
Prof Kenntner has traced growth rates in Europe as well as Australia, New Zealand and the USA. He found that in 1920 the average height was 1.71m, by 1960 it had risen to 1.76m and by 1980 it was 1.8m. Today's average is 1.83m. -- Simon Kent |
We have to wonder how the Professor deduced that the average height of white male humans would be 1.93m in the year 2060.
Let us graph the data we are given and see what happens.
Firstly, we shall collect the data into a table to make it clear:
| Year | Av. height (m) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 1.71 | |
| 1960 | 1.76 | |
| 1980 | 1.80 | |
| 1995 | 1.83 |
On the next page, we have plotted these result ...
See the graph.
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