Anecdotally, you may have heard (or read) of people with autism who are gifted or talented in the arts, music or math. Now researchers have found evidence that autism is associated with intellectual skills.

The finding has emerged from a study of autism among 378 Cambridge University students, which found the condition was up to seven times more common among mathematicians than students in other disciplines. It was also five times more common in the siblings of mathematicians.

No gene has actually been associated, and that’s the next step, but the incidence among family members for autism may suggest some genetic …read more