New autism research at Berkeley

[8filltheheart]

My ds at Berkeley sent me this link and I thought I'd share it with others who might want to read:

https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/01/21/mouse-studies-show-inhibition-theory-of-autism-wrong/

[PeterPan]

Hmm, that's kind of a mess, isn't it. Sort of feeds into the neurodiversity thought process. There is that sense in which one population is telling another how to exist, all the while slurping up the others' strengths when it suits them.

Would hate to be the mice in that, mercy. And then what do then do with them when they're done, snake food? And do the snakes mind the GMO mice?

[Crimson Wife]

Interesting, but given that these "autistic" mice have been bred with a single particular mutation, I'm not sure how well they are a model for all the other subtypes of autism. What is true for these mice could lead to treatments for children with the same mutation, and that's fantastic. But those treatments may not work for all the other kids whose autism has a different cause.

[PeterPan]

9 minutes ago, Crimson Wife said:

a single particular mutation

They were using a few, weren't they? But even so, I totally agree with your point. I think they acknowledge that though. And even then, it's pretty whack to think about mouse models really replicating humans. I don't know that much about it. And I'm with you that when you solve the problem you created in a test tube you've solved the problem you created in a test tube.

To me the interesting thing their work *seemed* to show was that this wasn't a PROBLEM but was actually a point of stasis or health or neurodiversity, that the body was actually doing a good thing here, that it was a difference, not a mess-up. And there is a lot of stuff that is just messed up, yes. But is EVERYTHING about ASD messed up? I was watching a young man on the spectrum last night and watching the joy he has, the pleasure in his perseverative interest, and it just sort of wearied me internally to think that our culture has decided EVERYTHING about autism is always wrong and a defect, a mutation, a mess-up. It's almost like God himself is slapping them around a little and saying it was a difference, thought out. At least on this one. I don't know.