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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Author

Peter Hess

Former News Writer

Peter Hess was a reporter for Spectrum from 2019 to 2023, where he covered cannabinoids, autism prevalence, social hormones and other topics. Before joining Spectrum in 2019, he was associate science editor at Inverse, where he wrote and edited stories for a broad audience on a wide range of scientific topics, including drugs, evolution and environmental science. His work has also appeared in The Washington PostNew ScientistPopular Science and Motherboard. Peter has an M.A. in science journalism from New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. Find him on Twitter at @PeterNHess.

June 2022
two toddlers, a boy and a girl, draw animals on a glass window in thin lines of blue, green and magenta.

Autism’s sex bias disappears after tracking trajectories

by  /  22 June 2022

The male sex bias in autism may in large part be a product of how common diagnostic tools measure traits in boys versus girls at a single point in time, according to a new study.

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Week of JuneJun
6th
2022

Spotted around the web: COVID-19 during pregnancy, sleep problems, eugenics

Here is a roundup of news and research for the week of 6 June.

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Prioritizing physical health in autism: Q&A with Alice Kuo

by  /  6 June 2022

The principal investigator of the Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health wants to encourage more researchers to study physical health issues in autistic children and adults.

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May 2022
Someone in a yellow shirt stands at a kitchen counter, watching a cooking video on a small tablet computer and following along.

Standard quality-of-life screener validated for autistic adults

by  /  24 May 2022

Researchers updated the tool’s scoring system to better align with the experiences of autistic people.

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Structural brain changes foretell language skills in autistic infants

by ,  /  19 May 2022

Increased white-matter maturation tracks with stronger language abilities later in childhood, but the relationship with cortical thickness is less clear.

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Organoids hint at origins of enlarged brains in autistic people

by  /  13 May 2022

The size of the cerebral cortex seems to depend on when neural progenitor cells multiply or differentiate into glial cells and neurons.

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Heading to INSAR 2022: Hybrid format, COVID-19, Texas beef

by  /  11 May 2022

Many autism researchers say they are excited to gather in person for the first time in three years, but concerns about COVID-19 and the meeting location persist.

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April 2022
organoids in early stages of development.

Organoids show how mutations in top autism gene may lead to brain overgrowth in people

by  /  19 April 2022

The loss of CHD8, a top autism gene, speeds up the production of certain neurons and leads to overgrowth in spheres of cultured brain cells.

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Micrographs comparing mouse striatal neurons missing TSHZ3 and wildtype striatal neurons.

Two groups of neurons govern autism-like traits in model mice

by  /  15 April 2022

Together, the neurons are part of the corticostriatal circuit, which has been implicated in autism.

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March 2022

Unfamiliar surroundings bring out autism-like behaviors, brain circuit changes in model mice

by  /  31 March 2022

A brain area called the tail of the striatum may account for the shift.

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