Back to Autism for a Moment.
Don’t worry, I’ll get back to telling everyone not to panic soon!
Often times people have complained that I’ve spent a lot of time covering what doesn’t cause autism, without telling people what does cause autism. I’ve said that we don’t know for sure, but most likely complex genetic causes. I promise after we discuss what ASD isn’t caused by, we’ll end the series with what science’s best information on what does cause ASD.
In the meantime, Ed Yong over at Not Exactly Rocket Science has an awesome post discussing articles from Nature that talk about genetic variants correlated with Autism.
Go! Learn! I’ll wait here. He’s an excellent writer, and his discussion is eminently understandable.
Explore posts in the same categories: Medicine, ScienceTags: Autism, Medicine, Not Exactly Rocket Science, Science
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
Beyond the Short Coat 
April 29, 2009 at 1:47 pm
He didn’t mention vaccines!!!!! Bad writing. Obviously doesn’t support the prevailing wisdom of Jenny McCarthy. Meh.
Turning on serious mode.
Wow, who are the anti-vaccine woo-meisters going to blame now?
Oh, I promised to be serious.
What I found particularly interesting about the article was the locations of the genes within a “gene desert”, and these genes seem to fail to interact properly in individuals with autism. Without going into massive detail, the complexity of the theoretical genetic makeup of this diseases is impressive.
People want simple answers to complex questions. Unfortunately, there are only complex answers, and this doesn’t support the anti-vaccine movement’s bad science.
May 2, 2009 at 11:53 am
I can’t help myself again, because the cause of the mistake is obvious, so apologies for picking this nit:
Imminent:
1. Threatening to occur immediately; near at hand; impending;
— said especially of misfortune or peril.
Eminent:
1. High; lofty; towering; prominent.
2. Being, metaphorically, above others, whether by birth,
high station, merit, or virtue; high in public estimation;
distinguished; conspicuous; as, an eminent station; an
eminent historian, statements, statesman, or saint.
It does make a bit of a difference, I’m sure you’ll agree, especially since Ed honestly isn’t very threatening despite his villainous eloquence. 🙂
May 2, 2009 at 6:01 pm
No, i really did mean to imply that Ed is an evil genius… Really!
…Mistake corrected, thanks again 🙂
My fiance’ has threatened to buy me a grammar book if this continues.