The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is changing the way it approves medicines known as ‘orphan drugs’ after revelations that drugmakers may be abusing a law intended to help people with rare diseases. In a blog post on 12 September, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he wants …

Honey bees lead intricate social lives: They care for the colony’s young and team up to protect their home, for example. But some bees don’t have ‘hive mind;’ they fail to respond to social cues, such as the arrival of new larvae or trespassing bees. The genetic profiles of these bees are similar to…

About 17 percent of children with autism are calmer and more communicative than usual when they have a fever, according to a new analysis1. Children with severe autism features are most likely to show these gains. Understanding how fever affects autism features could help researchers uncover causes …

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A new technique classifies neurons by surveying chemical tags that turn genes on or off on the neurons’ DNA1. The approach represents a new way to chart the brain’s cellular diversity. It could reveal how patterns of chemical tags known as methyl groups are altered in autism. Methyl groups bind to t…

Mutations that appear in only some of the body’s cells contribute to autism in about 4 percent of people with the condition, an analysis of more than 8,000 sequences suggests1. Mosaic mutations arise spontaneously after conception; the later they appear, the fewer cells of the body they affect. The …

Some of the items on a common diagnostic test for autism may not translate well to African cultures, according to preliminary results from multiple teams. Two teams presented their unpublished results Friday at the 2017 Africa Regional International Meeting for Autism Research in Stellenbosch, South…

A widely used screening test for autism is more accurate in children at 24 months of age than at 18 months, according to three new studies1,2,3. The results suggest that clinicians need a more finely tuned screen for children younger than 20 months. Parents in the United States typically complete th…

This Spectrum journal club will focus on two papers published this year that explore the role of mosaic mutations in autism. Rebecca Barnard, a postdoctoral researcher in Brian O’Roak’s lab at Oregon Health and Science University, will describe results from their paper “Exonic mosaic mutations contr…

The first Australian national guidelines for diagnosing autism were released for public consultation last week. The report by the research group Autism CRC was commissioned and funded by Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in October 2016. The NDIS has taken over the runnin…