"Some scientists now believe they may have finally discovered its root. We're all essentially mind readers, they say."

I guess the key word is "essentially" I doubt that the experiment describe can fairly be described as mind reading. I have my doubts about "empathy." The monkeys are observing and picking up on physical cues. If a human watched an animated film of someone grasping a peanut, I think the same area of the brain would light up. I'm very confident it works that way with porn. I think not. Are you reading the mind of a cartoon? doe you feel empathy for the animated mouse? Maybe but it is just a response to visual and auditory cues. The part about the autistic made me think of this. Autism spectrum includes attention deficit problems does it not? Could it be that the problems that autistic have in reading emotions are related to them not paying attention to visual cues?