Red Hair, Neanderthals and Autism

One of my earliest posts here at voluntaryXchange was about a site that claimed that autism may be a genetic remnant of interbreeding between homo sapiens neanderthalis and homo sapiens sapiens (us). It seemed speculative, but well thought out.

Now, this past week we have reports that a mutation found in a particular gene that isn't shared by modern humans would plausibly lead to red hair and fair skin in neanderthals (see FuturePundit too).

So, I went back to that site. There I found the cover picture I remember - of the red-headed neanderthal boy - from 3 years before this most recent discovery. There's also a section on the high correlation of, and hypothesized relationship of red hair to autism.

Maybe they're on to something ...