Random questionable ideas -2

I have learned to question anything that is said with authority but without substantial reason to think the speaker knows what he's talking about.  A current Republican presidential candidate was shown on a talk show recently saying, "I don't have the facts to back me up on this but ..." and he continued with his speculation about something.  It didn't really matter because he had already chopped the legs off his own argument. Scientists generally rate pretty high on my list of people who know what they are talking about but the class I'm taking this semester may be undermining that.  On the other hand, the strange things I'm hearing may be a result of my hearing loss rather than his statements.  In any case, here are the questionable statements I heard in the latest classes:

1. Writing by hand (especially cursive) involves the fine motor skills and is therefore an emotional exercise   Keyboarding with a typewriter or computer keyboard is not emotionally engaging.
2. The brain does not learn better by making exercises "fun".  The brain learns solely through repetition.
3. Neanderthals actually had larger brains than early humans but lost out in the evolutionary struggle because they were unable to form the social groups that early humans did.
4. Human brains have shrunk in the past 500 years indicating a possible evolutionary trend.
5. The  pointedness of dogs' ears correlates with their wildness.  The more pointy, the less they are domesticated.
6. The incidence of Down syndrome children correlates with the age of the father more than with the age of the mother.

What about it?  Anyone out there feel like taking one or more of these statements and find "facts" to either back up or refute the statement?