Spectrum: Autism Research News

Monkeys missing the gene SHANK3 have too few neurons in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in planning and social behavior.

A brain region that processes emotions tends to be smaller in children who have both autism and anxiety than in those who have autism alone.

Children with autism are genetically more similar to one another than to a group of unaffected siblings.

Scientists this week announced the release of nearly 7,000 whole-genome sequences from a collection of families that each have one child with autism.

Researchers have debuted two mouse models of autism made using the gene-editing tool CRISPR. Both strains lack one copy of CHD8, a gene with strong ties to autism.

A component of marijuana called cannabidiol eases seizures in children with Dravet syndrome.

A drug that alters the balance of two key chemical messengers in the brain may help treat autism, suggests a proof-of-principle study.

Autism runs in families, but the search for inherited risk factors has come up short — until now.

A widely used questionnaire designed to measure anxiety flags the condition in children with autism.

A small clinical trial shows that treatment with the hormone oxytocin improves social skills in some children with autism.