[airesQ]

It seems that we have deep learning applied to MRI:

  A deep-learning algorithm that primarily uses surface area
  information from magnetic resonance imaging of the brain of 
  6–12-month-old individuals predicted the diagnosis of autism  
  in individual high-risk children at 24 months (with a 
  positive  predictive value of 81% and a sensitivity of 88%).

[hive_mind]

What puts a child at high-risk for Autism?

[Spellman]

Recommended watching on causes of Autism: https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_chung_autism_what_we_know_an...

3 major factors that are highly correlated: 1) Using a particular drug 2) Age of father 3) Being male

Majority is genetics though, so if the two parents are both highly intelligent and/or on the spectrum, good chances the child will be as well.

Autism is principally caused by the brain neurons developing too quickly during development, and then not reaching the same levels in fully developed adults. One theory thrown around is it's the rapid neuron development, so having intelligent parents means you have a chance of overshooting the threshold of "safe" development resulting in Autism.

I presume this study has better, more-up-to-date metrics though.

[wbl]

Note that age of father may just be due to delayed mating among broad spectrum phenotype people, and not causally related. We also don't know about the male part for sure because of underdiagnosis among women, but maybe there are X-genes involved? We know some genetic diseases which are X-linked cause autism-like symptoms.

[yoodenvranx]

Wasn't there recently a discussion somewhere on HN about the influence of sun / vitamin D3?

One example for this might be the Somali community in Minneapolis [0] but at the moment I can't find any up-to-date article

[0] https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/study-find...

[ClassyJacket]

I'm not sure if this is what they meant, but older parents have a higher risk of having autistic children

http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v21/n5/full/mp201570a.html

[AlphaWeaver]

I would assume things like Genetics, history in the family, etc.

[J5892]

Chemtrails