Baron-Cohen has spent years studying autism, offering a range of examples.  It may appear amusing that a five-year-old boy may be capable of memorizing dozens of car registrations and explain which car belongs to which house, but there are other factors to consider.  Such boys grow into men who cannot readily converse, directly or over [...]

Darwin demonstrated that what we see around us is a "snapshot" of natural history.  Our view sees the result of ages of natural selection.  Even with this great insight, Darwin lacked the information explaining the mechanics of natural selection.  How did "modification with descent" [Darwin's preferred usage] work down the generations.  Although natural selection underwent [...]

The genetic obstacle to this breeding exercise gives Sawyer the opportunity to display his research abilities.  How he resolves it is testimony to his writing skills.  Humans, he tells us, are unique in possessing 23 chromosomes.  Other primates, probably including the extinct Neanderthals, have 24.  Merging genes from two such creatures is unlikely to produce [...]