Monday, November 03, 2008
Rain man
The headlines about a newly published study say "Autism linked to rainy areas." Looking a little closer, the study is considerably more interesting.
The headline part is easy: the study looked at Wash, Ore and Calif, separating out the more rainy areas from the dry areas. The rainy parts showed more autistic diagnoses. Unsurprising, because in these three states the coast is where the rain is, and the coast is where the Commies live. Commies like to saddle their kids with all sorts of diagnoses. Nothing can be part of the human condition, everything must be a medical disorder, everything must be treated with drugs.
Beneath the headlines was a more puzzling and interesting connection: time instead of geography. Within the same area, kids born during wetter years showed more diagnosed autism than kids born during dry years. This may actually point to a causal connection.
Low exposure to sunlight is already linked to multiple sclerosis, with vitamin D shortage being one possibility.
I'm wondering about a more direct connection. I've discussed the Svensmark theory, which explains climate change completely. Active sun shields us from cosmic rays, quiet sun lets cosmic rays in. Cosmic rays form clouds, so we get cloudier, rainier and cooler during the quiet-sun times.
What if the cosmic rays are directly affecting brain development? We know that the particles spun off from cosmic rays cause electrical discharges; those discharges are an important problem in computer memory chips. Could they also disrupt neural connections during the early stages of development? Rainy years would be times of high cosmic ray penetration, thus times with higher disruption by charged particles. ¶ 9:48 PM
The headline part is easy: the study looked at Wash, Ore and Calif, separating out the more rainy areas from the dry areas. The rainy parts showed more autistic diagnoses. Unsurprising, because in these three states the coast is where the rain is, and the coast is where the Commies live. Commies like to saddle their kids with all sorts of diagnoses. Nothing can be part of the human condition, everything must be a medical disorder, everything must be treated with drugs.
Beneath the headlines was a more puzzling and interesting connection: time instead of geography. Within the same area, kids born during wetter years showed more diagnosed autism than kids born during dry years. This may actually point to a causal connection.
Low exposure to sunlight is already linked to multiple sclerosis, with vitamin D shortage being one possibility.
I'm wondering about a more direct connection. I've discussed the Svensmark theory, which explains climate change completely. Active sun shields us from cosmic rays, quiet sun lets cosmic rays in. Cosmic rays form clouds, so we get cloudier, rainier and cooler during the quiet-sun times.
What if the cosmic rays are directly affecting brain development? We know that the particles spun off from cosmic rays cause electrical discharges; those discharges are an important problem in computer memory chips. Could they also disrupt neural connections during the early stages of development? Rainy years would be times of high cosmic ray penetration, thus times with higher disruption by charged particles. ¶ 9:48 PM
