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Theodore A. Hoppe

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Is autism, or some types of autism, an evolutionary effect.

This is an uninformed notion I have had, and this is the first time I have found support for it.
Toward the end of this TED talk Enriquez provides some numbers on the rate at which autism has increased in a decade, 78%.

He says, "We are trying to take in as much information in a day as people use to take in in a lifetime."
Is autism a rapid evolution of the brain?

Related Talks:
Topics: autism evolution
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    Frans Kellner 100+

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    Jun 15 2012: Some new findings over the last decade suggest that at least part of those we call autistic have a brain disorder due to some neurotoxins produced by intestinal bacteria.
    During the first three years of life the flora down the intestines are building up to a number of cells that outnumber those of the body of a hundred to one. Their composition in species to over a hundred are balancing each other out by mutual control and cooperate to decompose our food to useful stuff our body needs.
    As a young child is prescribed antibiotics this work in progress can be disrupted as species that are more resilient get dominant while others vanish. One of those kind of survivors produce propionic acid what disturbs the fat building in the brain.

    http://autismitsgutstupid.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/propionic-propionate-autism/

    To my view the word autism is used for disorders of various kind that have some symptoms in common .

    • Stefan Gingerich

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      Jun 15 2012: The website you listed stated the findings are preliminary, so obviously more research is needed. I wonder, if this is the causative mechanism behind a portion of autism cases, why the increase in autism cases wasn't recognized sooner. Antibiotics have been around for decades and they've been used widely by kids for at least 30 years (probably much longer).

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