A recent study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution by Oxford University Press suggests that the relatively high prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in humans may be rooted in evolutionary history. From an evolutionary standpoint, many scientists argue that autism and schizophrenia may be conditions unique to humans. They discovered that the most common neurons in the brain’s outer layer, known as L2/3 IT neurons, experienced unusually rapid evolutionary change in humans compared with other apes. Strikingly, this rapid evolution coincided with significant modifications in genes linked to autism, changes likely shaped by natural selection acting specifically on the human lineage. While the findings point strongly toward selection favoring autism-associated genes, the evolutionary advantage these changes may have provided to human ancestors remains uncertain.