Study Finds That Brains With Autism Fail to Trim Synapses

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The NY Times author writes, "By giving the mice the drug rapamycin, the scientists were able to reduce mTOR?s activity, fix the process of pruning synapses, and eliminate the abnormal social behaviors," but unless I missed it, she doesn't state what "abnormal social behaviors" they tracked. Did she?

If the side effects were not so horrible, then theoretically, maybe it would be good for reducing sensitivities to painful input, like sounds. What do you think? Just as part of daily comfort, it would be nice when I forget to cover a light or bring ear plugs for my husband. I'm sure, though, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to isolate what needs pruning and certainly a moral issue to consider if there is controversy over what branches are extraneous, which there likely would be.

I, too, find that anxiolytics and CNS depressants help mute the sensory noise. Unfortunately, there still are none which neither create dependencies nor lose effectiveness with regular use.

I don't get my hair trimmed as often as I should. I shudder thinking how long I've let my toenails go without trimming befoe I noticed. Same thing with my eyebrows and plants and bushes that I've had. It would only make sense that I would space out trimming my brain synapses as well.