Which is correct?: A. People drown by breathing in water. B. People drown by holding their breath under water. Confronted with such a question, the vast majority of people would know that A was the correct answer. Indeed, most people would know that water in the lungs is proof of death by drowning but that lack of it is Read more
For his new book, author Andrew Solomon spoke with parents who have children completely unlike them — with autism, Down syndrome or dwarfism. SPIEGEL spoke with him about his findings and how they changed his parenting. SPIEGEL: Dr. Solomon, in your book you write about Jason Kingsley, who was a child star on “Sesame Street.” What’s Read more
By May of this year, Jacob Barnett had wrung everything he could get out of the university he had been attending for four years in his home state of Indiana. He had taken every undergraduate course on mathematics and physics, and a bunch of graduate-level courses too. None of it had even slowed Jacob down. Read more
When a newborn joins a family we become beguiled by the perfection of this wondrous new being. Any hint of difference is easily overlooked during the early years. We now understand that the onset of symptoms of autism spectrum disorders is variable during the first two years of life. Signs are evident in some children from birth, Read more
This is actually a study from the middle of last year that I never got round to covering (there was a run of studies from the same team, and this one ended up at the bottom of the pile!). But I’m glad I did. The study leads were Ara Norenzayan and Will Gervais at the Read more