There’s nothing really surprising about that new alcohol study. They all tend to show a U-shaped curve, where moderate drinkers do better at whatever is being measured (general health, risk of cardiovascular problems, intelligence in this case) than both teetotalers and heavy drinkers. We don’t really know why teetotalers do so badly, but it is possible that large numbers of teetotalers abstain because of poor health, which would skew the findings. On the other hand, it is possible that alcohol is genuinely beneficial to the human condition in moderate amounts. Ben Franklin may well have been right when he said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”