Schizophrenia is believed to be solely a disease of the brain.  But in an ironic twist, Malaspina’s quest for understanding­ – one that has taken her around the world – has led the right back to a parent.  Only this time it’s the father.  Malaspina has found that about a quarter of all schizophrenics may owe their symptoms to spontaneous mutations in paternal sperm.  And the older the father, the more likely his sperm is to carry such mutations.

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