Autism test would deprive the world of geniuses
A new book on the greatest British physicist since Newton speculates that both his profound mathematical abilites and his extreme social awkwardness stemmed from undiagnosed autism. The claims – from a biography of Paul Dirac by Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man – tie in with an article on the BBC website from leading autism researcher Prof Simon Baron-Cohen. Baron-Cohen says we need a public debate about the prenatal diagnosis of autism. Although such a test is not yet available, it soon could be. Baron-Cohen points out that the use of embryo selection during IVF to reject babies with autism genes might have the effect of preventing some individuals with brilliant mathematical abilities from being born.More on Baron-Cohen's argument later, but first, Farmelo's book presents a highly detailed picture of a brilliant but profoundly odd man with an extremely troubled relationship with his parents. Given Dirac's contribution to science, Farmelo argues...
Read the whole article on The Guardian - Science
More from The Guardian - Science
Related
- Research shows wide age gap between possible and actual autism diagnosisMon, 4 May 2009, 16:52:45 EDT
- Case Western Reserve research finds that the lack of specific gene plays role in autismMon, 9 Feb 2009, 9:22:22 EST
- World's largest DNA scan for autism uncovers new gene variant for disorderTue, 28 Apr 2009, 13:57:15 EDT
- The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC begins search for causes of autismWed, 7 May 2008, 12:07:26 EDT
- Autism Consortium symposium draws record number of researchers, advocates, parents for autism updateThu, 5 Nov 2009, 12:28:44 EST