Scientists and autism: When geeks meet (NatureNews)

Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen thinks scientists and engineers could be more likely to have a child with autism.

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According to a theory he has been building over the past 15 years, the parents of autistic children, and the children themselves, have an aptitude for understanding and analysing predictable, rule-based systems — think machines, mathematics or computer programs. And the genes that endow parents with minds suited to technical tasks, he hypothesizes, could lead to autism when passed on to their children, especially when combined with a dose of similar genes from a like-minded mate

Scientists are beginning to understand the plastic nature of the brain (neuroplasticity). In time one would expect they will come to understand the deeper "physioplasticity" of genes, DNA, and matter and energy. So the realisation that mechanically-minded, train-track behavioural parents will produce similarly focused chidlren should come as no surprise.