We always think of women whenreferring to the “biological clock," but it looks like dudes have a one, too, says anew study, publishedonline today in the journal Nature. Older men have a greater chanceof having offspring who develop autismor schizophrenia, the study found. The older youare, the more random mutations in your genetic material. Yikes. What’s even more mind-altering to our perceived socialnorms is that the age of mothers have nothing to do with the risk factor for thesedisorders. When it comes to certain complex developmental issues, the majority of the riskoriginates in the sperm, not the egg, the study found.The researchers concluded that the number of genetic mutations (giving rise todevelopmental issues like autism) increases consistently by two mutations a year after theage of 20, reaching 65 mutations for offspring of 40-year-old men.While this could obviously seriously affect how -- and when --men choose to procreate, the overall risk to a man in his 40s or older is in the 2% range.And, of course, there are always unknown factors.Regardless, it remains true that autism has increased in recent decades, withapproximately 30% of cases being attributable to the increasing average age of fathers.We’re not quite sure what to make of all this; all we know is this study certainlyhas us thinking. Continue Reading

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