4 | NewScientist | 3 October 2009

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“I HAVE no interest in right or wrong… I will plot to rob you of your children and your dreams.”

So goes a short film called I Am

Autism that has provoked a spat between people with autism and a charity that aims to help them.

Premiered on 22 September in New York at an event organised by the charity Autism Speaks, the film includes clips of children with autism backed by doomy music and a voice-over saying that the condition breaks apart families and relationships.

“This makes people afraid of us. What will people think about me and other autistics if they have watched this damaging video?” says Elesia Ashkenazy , director

of the Portland, Oregon, chapter of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN). She organised a protest on 26 September against the film in Portland.

Autism downer ASAN president Ari Ne’eman adds that the film could cause practical problems for people with autism. “If you have autism and are looking for a job or a relationship, this adds to the fear and prejudice and stigma.”

Marc Sirkin , chief community officer at Autism Speaks, points out that the film was produced by two fathers of children with autism. He says it is a “personal poem”. “Some parents have found the video inspiring,” he says; “others have been offended by it. No one perspective can ever be the definitive voice of autism.”

Farming’s future

THERE has been good and bad news this week on the world’s food prospects.

At a major food summit in Rome, Italy, on 12 October, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization will show that farming output in sub-Saharan Africa grew by 3.5 per cent last year. Following decades of decline, this promises the rosiest outlook for many years. The FAO estimates that the region has 700 million hectares of unoccupied land fit for farming.

But further ahead, child malnutrition worldwide will increase by 20 per cent by 2050 as crop yields fall through climate change, warns a report from the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC. Sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia will be worst hit, as rising temperatures and dwindling water supplies drive down wheat and rice yields by 30 and 15 per cent respectively. “There will be 25 million more malnourished children in 2050 than if climate change hadn’t happened,” says study author Gerald Nelson.

Whale forensics

A FORENSIC study of whale meat bought from Japanese markets suggests that either Japan’s scientific whaling programme is taking more animals from a vulnerable population than previously estimated, or accidental “by-catch” of the whales in fishing nets is larger than officially reported.

Vimoksalehi Lukoschek of the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues bought samples

–The only way is up–

–Meat from which whales?–

Rocket racers stalled ROCKET racing is proving to be rather

slow off the mark. A US company

called the Rocket Racing League

originally planned to start racing

rocket planes as early as 2007 but

now, besides slower-than-expected

technical development , the league

has suffered another setback. It has

lost its lease on land at its intended

headquarters in New Mexico.

The Las Cruces city council

terminated the league’s lease on

planned hangar space at the city’s

airport. The league had failed to build

any hangars, which was required by

the terms of the lease. Councillor Gil

Jones says that the cancellation is

regrettable: “There was no animosity

between Rocket Racing League and

the city of Las Cruces.”

“They may have got ahead of

themselves with the real estate

deals,” says Charles Lurio, of

private-space-industry monitor

The Lurio Report . Mike D’Angelo ,

chief operations officer of the

league, says that instead of building

hangars, the league needed to focus

on developing its standardised

rockets and making sure that races

will be safe and entertaining. “We

are making good progress on the

building blocks,” he says.

The company is now searching for

a new permanent HQ. “We’re not sure

where we’ll end up,” says D’Angelo.

The ultimate aim is to have portable

infrastructure so that races can be

held at many locations across the US.

D’Angelo says that the league now

hopes to stage exhibition flights in

early 2010, with full racing in 2011.

“If you have autism and are looking for a job or a relationship, this adds to the fear and stigma”

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