Autism: The Real Reason It’s Going Up

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 11.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Autism rates are rising all over the world, and lots of people are wondering: why? In the U.S., HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said the cause is an "environmental toxin" and has vowed to get to the bottom of it. But we already have lots of science on this — so what does that research tell us? We talk with epidemiologist Professor Brian Lee, Associate Professor Karen Heffler, clinical psychologist Professor Catherine Lord, epidemiologist Professor Maureen Durkin, and Senior Science Researcher Dena Gassner. We want to hear your ideas for new episodes of Science Vs! Tell us via: Instagram at science_vs Bluesky at sciencevs X at @sciencevs Email at [email protected] Voicemail at +1(774) 481-1238‬ Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsAutism In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Rates of autism are going up (03:33) The hunt for the cause of the ‘autism epidemic’ (13:43) Could screen time be causing autism? (20:10) The changing definition of autism (27:48) Could this explain the rise in autism? This episode was produced by Meryl Horn, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Michelle Dang, and Rose Rimler. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking, research assistance, and consulting by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wylie, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. A special thanks to the researchers we reached out to, including Professor Karen Pierce, Professor David Mandell, Professor Deborah Bilder, Professor Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault, Dr. Helen Tager-Flusburg, Dr. Isabella de la Lara, Katherine Byrne, Professor Sven Bölte, and Dr. Whitney Worsham. Special thanks also to Lynn Keeys and Mbella Beseka, Chris Suter, Elise and Dylan, Jack Weinstein and Hunter, and Joseph Lavelle Wilson and the Zukerman Family. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Verses.
0:05.1	This is our last episode for a little bit.
0:08.3	We're going to take a short break until September while we work on new episodes.
0:13.3	So that means if you have an idea, something that you want us to verses, you've got to tell us.
0:20.5	There's a lot of ways to do it.
0:21.7	You can do it on social media.
0:23.3	There's Instagram, TikTok.
0:25.2	There's an email address.
0:26.7	It's all in the show notes.
0:28.2	So if you've got an idea, something that we have to versus,
0:31.3	please let us know.
0:32.8	We absolutely love hearing from you.
0:35.1	Now, on with the show.
0:37.3	Today's episode is all about autism,
0:40.5	because we're asking, why does so many folks have it these days? Rates of autism have been going
0:47.7	up and up for decades. But then a couple of months ago, the CDC released the latest numbers,
0:56.3	catapulting this issue into the spotlight. A brand new report out today from the Centers for Disease Control finds a
1:01.7	dramatic rise in autism diagnoses among children. An alarming spike in the number of children
1:06.8	diagnosed with autism. New data just released shows a 15% jump in just two years.
1:13.5	The CDC report found that one in every 31 kids looked like they now had autism,
1:20.4	which is nearly five times more common than it was 25 years ago.
1:24.8	And the rates in boys were even higher.
	...

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