The Search for Autism’s Missing Piece : Autism Research Slowly Turns Its Focus to Environmental Toxicity (By Brita Belli)

The Search for Autism’s Missing Piece : Autism Research Slowly Turns Its Focus to Environmental Toxicity (By Brita Belli)

“It irritates me to no end that we still argue over whether there is an increase in incidence,” says Michael Merzenich, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at the University of California San Francisco who has pioneered research in brain plasticity (essentially, retraining brains) and leads the brain-training software company Posit Science. “I think there is lots of evidence for increased incidence,” Merzenich says. “Overwhelmingly it supports that there are things in the environment that are contributing to the rate of incidence. But people still argue.”