I write about auI write about autism a lot. Much of what I write has to do with autism-related research, and I keep tabs on what comes down the pipeline every day–because a new autism finding turns up every day. Some of it seems pretty reasonable, but a few things I’ve seen linked to autism–always a mathematical relationship, never a causative one–just leave a reader thinking, “Eh?,” possibly with a little stereotypical head-scratching added in. Or maybe the occasional throwing of items within reach.

Over the years, I’ve accumulated quite a list. Here are the 10 weirdest–and in some cases, most dangerous–factors I’ve seen linked to autism.

1. No worms. Without question, my all-time favorite autism-linked factor has to be “an absence of worms.” It’s a wriggly hypothesis that lacks even a correlation to drive it, but it sure did get a lot of attention. I can confirm anecdotally that I’ve never heard of an autistic person who had worms, but I also haven’t known non-autistic people who have, either.

2. Lyme disease. This idea, also lacking a correlation as a hypothetical springboard, fails in any number of ways, most of which consist of having no evidence base. It first hit the radar via a local Fox news channel, and it’s got a lot of die-hard fans who periodically pop up to defend it.

3. Relative finger length. According to my own relative finger lengths, I am either male or a lesbian. I am neither. Of course, at the link, we’re promised that our finger lengths will also predict our tendency to develop cancer. Cancer, autism, homosexuality–hey, there, one of the 10 signs of pseudoscience!

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