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Are Sex Differences in Autism Just Normal Sex Differences?
“Although not a common focus of developmental research, a substantial body of work on adults examines the possibility that ASD sex differences are a reflection of normative sex differences. These...
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Autism Research Is in Crisis and Doesn’t Seem to Know It
Once again, I’m returning to my readings in the Philosophy of Science, a field of knowledge that few scientists acquaint themselves with, though more really should. I’m browsing through a text I’d...
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Blockbusters in the World of Evolutionary Genetics
In lieu of a dearth of Hollywood movie blockbusters this summer, apparently geneticists are trying to take up the slack by premiering some astounding finds in the world of basic genetics research. Two...
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Psychosis in Autism
For about a year or more I’ve been interested in the relationship (or potential lack thereof) between autism and schizophrenia. As is commonly known, autism and epilepsy share considerable comorbidity...
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Anti-Copernicanism in Modern Day Scientific Culture
“… science is a complex and heterogeneous historical process which contains vague and incoherent anticipations of future ideologies side by side with highly sophisticated theoretical systems and...
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The Theory of Evolution, the French Revolution, & Modern American Society
During the height of the French Revolution, about 3,000 Parisian revolutionaries held an entire country (30,000,000 people) hostage. The economic class from which they primarily derived was the...
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Changes to Nervous System Patterning in Autism
A good deal of my recent work has been focused on studying deviations to neuronal identity in relation to autism etiology. Though we use the term “neuron” to describe large groups of cells that help to...
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Autism: Reading the Brain in the Face
The human embryo develops three basic germ layers, which each give rise to various and occasionally overlapping structures. This is known as the Germ Layer Theory, originally proposed by Karl von Baer....
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The Endoplasmic Reticulum, Epilepsy, & Cell Stress
Scientists, especially geneticists, are often over-focused on the nucleus of a cell. After all, it holds the basic blueprints for all the gene products our cells make, right? Unfortunately, because the...
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A Glimpse into the Future of Precision Medicine in Autism
At the moment, about 15-20% of cases of autism have an identifiable genetic component. Most of this is comprised of rare (<1%) mutations that have comparatively high penetrance for autism and other...
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Not All Mutations in Autism Are Just about Loss- or Gain-of-Function
A few weeks ago I wrote about cell stress and its relationship with epilepsy. I reviewed how the accumulation of misfolded proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can lead to an Unfolded Protein...
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The History of Science – Individual Genius or Cultural Readiness?
For those of you who have followed this blog over time, you’ve probably noticed that aside from my interests in autism, I’ve also become fascinated by the philosophy and history of science. For some,...
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New News in Human Evolution
It’s been a landmark season for big finds in paleoanthropology. Probably many of you have already heard of the new human species, Homo naledi, reported by Lee Berger and his crew. If you haven’t,...
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How Stress Changes the Developing Brain
Even if you haven’t read any books or articles on the topic, most of us have at least a vague idea of the serious effects stress can have on a body. We know, for instance, that when we’re under...
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A Personal Story about Cancer, Autism, & DPD Deficiency
For the last few years, my mother has been battling colorectal cancer. In 2012, the primary tumor was removed, all lymph nodes appeared clear, and the pathologist, surgeon, and oncologist all agreed it...
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Neurodegeneration in Schizophrenia?
“Despite the substantial evidence and compelling rationale of the neurodevelopmental theories [in that schizophrenia adheres to a developmental model in which the primary developmental defect gives...
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Mutation Patterns in Simplex Cases of Autism
There’s been a lot of study of copy number variants (CNV) in autism over the last decade or so. Far from beating a dead horse, a recent publication in Neuron by a large group of researchers...
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Breaking News: Scientists Are Human After All
It’s true. Contrary to all expectations, scientists are in fact human. Once believed to be a separate species, Homo scientia, we now know that scientists are not just a closely related hominid, they’re...
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More Links between the “Metabolic Syndrome” and Autism
Metabolic Syndrome (MBS) involves a combination of medical conditions that lend towards cardiovascular disease and diabetes. These include abdominal obesity, hypertension (elevated blood pressure),...
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The Roots of American Anti-Intellectualism
Though most of us in America are pretty familiar with a sense of anti-intellectualism and anti-science that pervades our culture, we’re often only familiar with the more recent iterations of this...
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