Men's biological clock ticking

WE always think of women when referring to the "biological clock," but it looks like men have a one too.

WE always think of women when referring to the "biological clock," but it looks like men have a one too.

Older men have a greater chance of having offspring who develop autism or schizophrenia, a new study published in the journal Nature found.

The older you are, the more random mutations in your genetic material. Yikes.

What’s even more mind-altering to our perceived social norms is that the age of mothers have nothing to do with the risk factor for these disorders.

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When it comes to certain complex developmental issues, the majority of the risk originates in the sperm, not the egg, the study found.

The researchers concluded that the number of genetic mutations (giving rise to developmental issues like autism) increases consistently by two mutations a year after the age 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 two per cent range. And, of course, there are always unknown factors.

Regardless, it remains true that autism has increased in recent decades, with approximately 30 per cent 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 certainly has us thinking.

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