Content by <em>Spectrum</em>

This new understanding could one day lead to targeted treatments. 

The mutation prevents certain amino acids from entering neurons, causing the cells to die early in development.

The changes may help explain the link between maternal infection and autism, though more research is needed.

A wiring map diagrams more than half a million neuronal connections in the first complete connectome of Drosophila and holds clues about which brain architectures best support learning.

Inactivating TAOK1 prompts tentacle-like protrusions to form all over a neuron’s surface, revealing the gene’s role in molding the membrane.

Data from postmortem brain tissues adds to the evidence that inflammation is associated with autism.

The approach could help test hypotheses about how atypical function of the brain’s immune cells contributes to autism.

Maternal infection during pregnancy may be associated with autism, as previous studies have suggested—but perhaps not in a causal way.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s investigation comes after a study showed prenatal exposure to topiramate roughly triples a child’s likelihood of having autism or intellectual disability.

Troves of sequencing data reveal genes tied to autism through different variant types, providing a more complete picture of the condition’s genetic roots and new clues to its heterogeneity.

A researcher’s existential crisis led to a scientific breakthrough.

A study finds that expression levels of certain genes that track with brain activity—particularly those involved in brain development—vary between people with autism and their non-autistic peers.

Low participant numbers render the results of many studies based on brain scans unreliable, an analysis finds.

A study shows that a molecule produced by intestinal microbes can enter the brain and that its presence is also associated with altered brain connectivity.

The genes are involved in pacing the development of inhibitory and excitatory neurons. An imbalance in these two types of signaling is thought to play a role in autism.