Christopher Badcock and Bernard Crespi, professors of sociology and biology, respectively, developed a new and intriguing hypothesis about the causes of severe disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Under the titles “Imbalanced genomic imprinting in brain development: An evolutionary basis for the aetiology of autism” in Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2006) and “Battle of the sexes may set the brain” in Nature (2008), Professors Badcock and Crespi suggest that “A tug-of-war between the mother’s and father’s genes in the developing brain could explain a spectrum of mental disorders from autism to schizophrenia.”
In addition to challenging researchers with new ideas to test, their hypothesis is garnering coverage from the popular press. The story is being covered by New York Times, Discover, Autism Vox, and other sources. Part of the reason it’s getting this attention is that there are other implications of the hypothesis. For example, Professors Badcock and Crespi suggest that some scientists’ behavior—fascination with things and perseverance in analyzing them—may also be a result of the tension between gene expression.
Christopher Badcock and Bernard Crespi, professors of sociology and biology, respectively, developed a new and intriguing hypothesis about the causes of severe disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Under the titles “Imbalanced genomic imprinting in brain development: An evolutionary basis for the aetiology of autism” in Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2006) and “Battle of the sexes may set the brain” in Nature (2008), Professors Badcock and Crespi suggest that “A tug-of-war between the mother’s and father’s genes in the developing brain could explain a spectrum of mental disorders from autism to schizophrenia.”
In addition to challenging researchers with new ideas to test, their hypothesis is garnering coverage from the popular press. The story is being covered by New York Times, Discover, Autism Vox, and other sources. Part of the reason it’s getting this attention is that there are other implications of the hypothesis. For example, Professors Badcock and Crespi suggest that some scientists’ behavior—fascination with things and perseverance in analyzing them—may also be a result of the tension between gene expression.