Friday, December 02, 2011

Positive spin on autism genes in recent New Scientist article

Last month New Scientist magazine published a feature article with an accompanying editorial that included speculation that genes associated with autism could have played a pivotal role in human evolution, which I like as an idea even if I'm not convinced by the evidence cited to support it. The bits that I don't like are the way this idea about autism is presented side-by-side with similar arguments about disorders and mental illnesses such as bipolar, schizophrenia and ADHD, and the way they put this article behind a paywall. Sigh.

Ravilious, Kate (2011) Different minds. New Scientist. November 5th 2011. Issue 2837 p.35-37.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228372.000-mental-problems-gave-early-humans-an-edge.html

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