I believe we're seeing the lever that the Internet provides produce results, in cases like this. Smart kids before the Internet had to dig up information in widely disparate sources; some of these skills and knowledge were the exclusive purview of universities and research institutions. You simply couldn't do some of this stuff if you didn't have access to a lab and someone to show you how to do it. The Internet has caused an increase in access to knowledge comparable to, and maybe even surpassing, the leap from the pre-Gutenberg printing press world.

In other words, the Internet is a multiplier that applies to the incredible curiosity and enthusiasm and intelligence of bright kids. So, multiply your 10x (or whatever #x) nerd by the 10x (or probably much greater multiplier) of the Internet, and you get the world we're living in now. Amazingly, the multiplier will likely continue to increase over time. I don't know if it will accelerate in a way comparable to the Internet coming along (I mean, we had centuries between early really big knowledge multiplier leaps), but it might.

We live in amazing times is what I'm trying to say, and I'm genuinely jealous of kids coming up today, despite some minor caveats. I was bright and curious, and lucky enough to have access to a computer (C64 first, later C128 and Amiga 2000), but the access to knowledge was still quite limited. Internet didn't come for me until I was an adult. Internet and a boundless curiosity and practically unlimited free time is heady stuff.