Connecting the Dots 19compaction, its diverse functions, its rapid development, and its virtually inex
haustible creative potential. The enormous quantity of neurons in such a tiny
space, with neuronal connections that stretch about 150 km, is impressive;
the coordinated functioning of this complex neuronal system is nothing short
of miraculous.
As shown in Figures 1.8–1.10), one can glance at the brain size and the
unrealistic numbers of extra neurons in an autistic brain, and can readily per
ceive how such an increase in size, and accompanying enormous increase in
synaptic connections, can literally make an ASD person exceptional. If the
communication centers are spared by the toxic environmental factors that kill
selective types of neurons then these amazing increases can result in the
brains of an Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Michael Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Bill Gates,
or another of the recognized geniuses.
(a)(b)
Figure 1.10 (a) A normal brain neural network versus (b) ASD brain neural network.
(See insert for color representation of this figure.)