A study of autism among 378 Cambridge University students has found that autism is up to seven times more common among mathematicians than among students in other disciplines, and that it was also five times more common in the siblings of mathematicians, according to the October 5th Times. The genes that are thought to cause autism may also give mathematical, musical and other skills to those without autism. The study was led by Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre, who is quoted as saying:
“It seems clear that genes play a significant role in the causes of autism and …read more

Are animals autistic savants? ask researchers Giorgio Vallortigara et al. in the February 19th PLoS Biology. Yes, indeed says Temple Grandin in her 2005 book, Animals in Translation: Animals and autistic savants—who have extraordinary skills in certain areas, and especially in mathematics, music and drawing—both have “extreme cognitive skills” and also “think in detail” based on their processing of sensory-based data. Vallortigara et al consider these claims from the perspective of specialists in animal cognition and critique what Grandin says:
We argue that animals, like nonautistic humans, process sensory information according to rules, and that this manner of processing is …read more