Word: researching
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Simon Baron-Cohen, director of Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre, has shown in past research that men are more likely than women to score low on tests of empathy but high on tests of "systemizing" - recognizing rules and patterns - characteristics that, in the extreme, define autism. That's what led Baron-Cohen to regard the disorder - which is about three to four times as prevalent in boys as in girls - as one of the extreme male brain and to search for a link to male hormones. (See "The Year in Medicine: From...
Such vehemently opposing views are typical in the fractured landscape of autism research. Like the thoughts of autism patients, the causes of the disorder remain inscrutable to researchers. Most scientists agree there is a genetic basis, but there is little question that environmental factors play a part too; there have been documented cases of autistic patients with a nonautistic identical twin...
...Researchers who are more sympathetic to Baron-Cohen's work, like James B. Adams, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Materials, do not discount the theory that testosterone exposure is linked to autism but believe the association may be mediated by other potential causes. For his part, Adams believes autism is related to exposure to mercury - a controversial charge that most research has failed to support - and, Adams says, elevated testosterone levels are linked to the depletion of glutathione, a substance in the body that protects it from toxic metals. "So Baron-Cohen's work ties...
...interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper, Baron-Cohen made front-page headlines in his home country by expressing confidence that his research would soon allow doctors to screen for autism through amniocentesis - which involves extraction of amniotic fluid with a needle - the same procedure that allows parents to test for Down syndrome, and decide whether to terminate a pregnancy. Although a prenatal measure of testosterone is not a definitive test for autism, Baron-Cohen suggested that a debate was needed over whether such a test would be desirable...
...conference's first attempt to inject a little levity into an annual confab that noneconomists might charitably describe as dry. "You can count on one hand all the funny economists in the world," says R. Preston McAfee, a California Institute of Technology economics professor and Yahoo! research fellow who presided over the evening. But despite their rarity, some of these academics have attracted wide followings--admittedly, among those who can laugh at supply-demand curves. Yoram Bauman, a professor at the University of Washington, bills himself as the World's First and Only Stand-Up Economist*--but insists...