Slashdot Mirror
Biologists Debunk the "Rotting Y Chromosome" Theory
An anonymous reader writes "Biologists have previously predicted that that the male sex-determining Y chromosome, which once carried around 800 genes, like the X, has lost hundreds of them over the past 300 million years, will mutate itself out of existence, leading to the eventual extinction of men. However, researchers of a study published in the latest issue of Nature found evidence to suggest that the Y chromosome will not shed any more of the 19 ancestral genes that it is left with."
If "the right combination" is intelligence + virtually no trace of autism symptoms, then why not just take the intelligence part and leave off the crippling disability? Autism is not a prerequisite to high intelligence. There are plenty of truly brilliant people out there who aren't autistic at all.
I used to work in a school for autistic children. I was just the IT guy, but I was in the classroom at times and saw how hard the kids had to work to grasp things that most toddlers can do intuitively. I think it's unfortunate that when kids like that overcome their illness and do great things, people think "Wow, he sure benefited from those genes" instead of "Wow, that guy must have worked really hard to become so brilliant despite his disability."