Genes involved in the formation of myelin, a fatty substance that sheathes neurons, are altered in brain tissue from autistic people and in several mouse models. The mice also have unusually few myelinated nerve fibers. Researchers presented the unpublished findings in October 2019 at the Society fo…

People with mutations in a gene called TBR1 have unusual features in several brain regions, along with autism traits and developmental delay, according to a new study1. TBR1 encodes a protein that is involved in brain development. It controls the expression of several other autism-linked genes that …

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A custom-built machine can scan the brains of awake mice1. The technique may improve studies of brain activity in rodents and improve researchers’ understanding of conditions such as autism. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of mice typically requires the animals to be lightly anesthetize…

Most neuroscientists accept the scientific consensus on climate change and may even be doing their part to keep it in check — perhaps adjusting their diets or buying electric cars. But that’s not enough, says Adam Aron, professor of psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Aron says he…

Autistic children who have behavioral problems tend to have an enlarged right amygdala, a brain region that helps process emotions and detect threats. And in young girls with autism, the region’s size is associated with the severity of these problems. The findings come from a study of 300 autistic c…

While ABA is generally a long term commitment that a client and his or her caregiver makes, oftentimes before the child reached his or her third birthday, it is still important to have a fade-out policy in place in for when the client reaches their treatment goals or the provider is no longer able t…

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For many years, my colleagues and I have been studying a single-gene condition called tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) that is strongly associated with autism and developmental challenges. We found in earlier studies that we could identify predictors of autism in the first year of life, motivating t…

Most of the top contenders for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination have released comprehensive plans for disability policies. To a one, the policies call greater attention than in past elections to problems that affect people with disabilities — including those with autism. As of 3 March, fo…

We first interviewed autistic author Elizabeth Jade (her pseudonym) in May 2018 when her first book, Akea, The Power of Destiny, was published. She told us that she was the child that struggled to fit in, and no one knew why: “[I was] the child who could tell you everything that had been going on ar…

Lowering the levels of a protein called tau, best known for its involvement in Alzheimer’s disease, eases autism-like traits in mice, according to a study published today in Neuron1. The approach improves autism-like behaviors in two mouse models with mutations in the same cellular pathway, but not …

Autistic adults may not experience the typical age-related decline in brain regions related to vision, according to a new imaging study1. However, connections between other brain regions are weaker in older autistic adults than in younger ones, a pattern also seen in neurotypical people, the study f…