Friday, January 9, 2009

The Christina Hendricks autism test?

Weird science:
Men who do not find the shape of the curvier woman most attractive could be more likely to father children with autism, according to a study. . . .
The new research from the University of Bath suggests that fathers of autistic children do not share the preference of men across the world for the curvier woman. . . .
Dr Brosnan said he hopes the research will increase understanding of the causes of the condition.
'Autism is widely regarded to have genetic origins which may combine with hormonal influences', he said.
'We wanted to investigate the mechanisms by which these genes come together in a parental pairing, whether it is by chance or if it could be due to different preferences in choosing a mate - so-called assortative mating.
'This study raises some interesting questions about how the person we are attracted to could impact on our offspring.'
My completely unscientific hunch is that they're barking up the wrong tree. But how can we know unless we test the hypothesis? (BTW, none of my children are autistic.)

(Via Hot Air Headlines.)

5 comments:

  1. Well, I guess the bun we've got in the oven is going to be okay then.

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  2. We have an autistic child and I fall far on the curvier end of things.... as do all of my friends who have kids with autism...ALL of them....

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  3. Yeah, sorry, I call BS on this, too. I've ALWAYS been a devotee of the voluptuous, my wife being a fine example thereof, and our son is unfortunately another of the many children struggling with autism spectrum disorder.

    Mark Twain said it best: "There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics."

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  4. Real or fake?

    If we can't get investigative reporting funds to answer that, what's the point?

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  5. Tell you what, Presto: If you can get the funds, I'll do the investigating.

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