© Thom Graves
Although arguments remain over whether autism is genuinely on the rise to the astonishing degree reported in places like California, there is general agreement among scientists that the condition has a genetic basis. The search for the underlying gene – or genes – is simultaneously further behind than anyone would like and further ahead than anyone expected.
Major progress has been made since the Cure Autism Now Foundation set up the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) in 1997. "That really pushed things into another realm," says Daniel Geschwind of the University of California, Los Angeles. More recently, the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) created the Autism Genome Project, which has brought together more than 50 institutions, and includes the AGRE dataset. "The rationale behind [the Autism Genome Project] is the recognition that sample size plays an enormous role in the chance to find genes," says Joachim ...
