Spectrum: Autism Research News

About 1.8 percent of schoolchildren in England are autistic, and the prevalence is highest among Black children, at about 2.1 percent.

Welcome to the Null and Noteworthy newsletter, a roundup of papers that do the vital work of reproducing a previous result or reporting the absence of one.

Motor and memory training early in life postpones the onset of difficulties in those areas in a mouse model of Rett syndrome, and stimulating neurons involved in those skills appears to mimic the effects of training.

A growing body of evidence shows that brain cells called oligodendrocytes may play a larger role in autism than previously thought.

3D cultures of human brain cells kept alive for more than a year undergo transitions in gene activity that resemble those seen in newborns, and may be used to study autism genes in postnatal stages of brain development.

Cara Westmark has spent the past year building the case that a drug designed for fragile X syndrome might help coronavirus patients, too.

Mice with a mutation in their mitochondrial DNA show altered brain activity, repetitive behaviors and reduced sociability, according to a new study.

In this recorded interview, Maria Chahrour and Leah Seyoum-Tesfa talk about how they work closely with immigrant communities to increase diversity in genetic studies of autism.

Mutations in any of 10 autism-linked genes in frogs lead to the same overabundance of brain cells that develop into neurons; the sex hormone estrogen lowers this excess.

Genetic variants that contribute to autism may also be involved in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Tourette syndrome, according to a new study.