He very easily could have told Colin he was busy, or to come back later, or any number of things, but he didn’t.Source: The Autism Site

Spontaneous mutations that occur between genes are as important in autism as those within genes, a new study suggests1. The study, published today in Nature Genetics, is the first to look at the impact of these ‘noncoding’ mutations across the whole genomes of autistic people. Many teams over the pa…

Certain patterns of electrical activity in the brain may signal autism in children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a related genetic condition. Toddlers who have both TSC and autism have brain waves that are unusually out of sync across hemispheres, a new study suggests1. The study offers a p…

Mice missing a copy of CHD8, a top autism gene, show a signaling imbalance in their brains — a finding in line with a popular hypothesis about autism’s origins. Researchers presented the unpublished findings today at the 2019 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Neurons in d…

The past six months saw the release of two bestselling books about autism: Steve Silberman’s “Neurotribes,” and John Donvan and Caren Zucker’s “In a Different Key.” Both books chronicle the oftentimes dark history of autism while expressing hope for a better future for people with the condition. The…

This week’s blog comes to us from clinical psychologist Lauren Elder and was originally posted on Autism Speaks as part of their Got Questions? series. “Our son, age 9, was recently diagnosed with autism. He knows something’s up, but we’re not sure how to explain. Advice?” Y…

Last month, Spectrum hosted a webinar with autism researchers Tony Charman and Catherine Lord, who co-chaired the Lancet Commission’s set of recommendations for the autism field. Conversations around the commission continue; yesterday, the European Council of Autistic People published an open lette…

Scientists have for the first time successfully delivered the gene-editing tool CRISPR into mouse brains and altered their behavior1. In the method, a nanoparticle ferries the enzyme used in CRISPR into the brains of a mouse model of fragile X syndrome. The enzyme dampens a signaling pathway related…

The first online registry dedicated to autism research is closing down on 30 June, ending a 13-year run. The project, called the Interactive Autism Network (IAN), launched in 2006 and was designed to link autistic people with scientists interested in studying the condition. Over its tenure, the netw…

The two boys attend a school in Mexico, and their teacher recorded them.Source: The Autism Site

A new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine has the power to reveal the brain’s structure and activity at unprecedented resolution. The machine produces a magnetic field of 10.5 tesla — more than three times that of a typical hospital machine and 50 percent stronger than that of the most powerful…

This boy with autism was bullied at school. So a celebrity stepped in.Source: The Autism Site

If you’ve met one person who is a runner, you’ve met one person who is a runner. By Tracey Cohen Without a doubt, running, like autism, can be full of challenge, even painful at times. But the willingness to embrace difficulty is giving oneself the opportunity to flourish, to live a fulf…

A newly formed group of leaders from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is poised to generate funding opportunities for child health research, including autism science. The so-called Trans-NIH Pediatric Research Consortium brings together leaders from the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers. L…