Where Are All the Autistic Adults?

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One of the hottest debates in the study of the autism epidemic asks a simple question: if the rise in autism incidence isn’t related to a new environmental trigger(s), then where are all the autistic adults?  New research suggests that autism in the adult population is found at similar rates that it is for children.  Of course, like any study, this one has its limitations and should be noted.  However, the findings bode well for the explanation that greater awareness and expanding definitions of autism have propelled the recent increase in diagnosis rates for children.  See the article from Time magazine here:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1927415,00.html

Paying for College

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If you have to borrow money to pay for a university education, do so as wisely and reasonably as possible!  Check out your options in the finest detail and know exactly what you are getting into, especially if you are the first in your family to go to college or to graduate school.  You may not have at your disposal the accumulated knowledge and resources that others do if you are the first to trek off to the university, so stay informed!  Here’s some good input from the NY Times on the issue:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/help-for-student-borrowers.html

Patterns!

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A fundamental insight of the sociological perspective is that patterns reveal things that individual-level study could not.  Furthermore, individual explanations don’t always suffice in shedding light on aggregate patterns.  For instance, how would you explain this:

http://orgtheory.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/soda_map.jpg

What do you call it?

Or, this: (thanks, Alex B.)

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/02/daily-chart-4