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autistic savant

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mad neuroscience

Manipulating a Single Protein in Your Brain Creates "Autistic Savants"

Some autistics are known as "autistic savants" because they develop a genius in one subject, such as mathematics or art. New research shows this syndrome can be induced by tinkering with one protein in the brain which is responsible for building synapses, the brain structures that help neurons talk to each other. Neuroscientists at MIT (pictured) bred rats that lacked this protein, known as Shank1, and discovered the creatures could do spacial learning an extremely rapid clip, though they showed other signs of severe autism. These neuroscientists' work could go in two directions: curing some kinds of autism, and inducing selective superintelligence. More »

10:20 AM on Thu Feb 21 2008
By Annalee Newitz
3,733 views, 12 comments

Latest by str88f: - Capt. Mensa: "all we need is to open this packet of salt, put in the cracks in the rock and pour on this conveniently placed bucket of water to make the salt expand so the rock breaks up, then more »