Spectrum: Autism Research News

Research roundup

• Only 41 peer-reviewed studies from 1980 to 2017 have tested intervention programs for autistic adults, according to a meta-analysis. Current Psychiatry Reports
• Researchers report on progress and remaining challenges in the development of noninvasive biosensors that use saliva, tears or sweat to estimate blood levels of various substances. Nature Biotechnology
• There appears to be no correlation between any of 25 different endocrine disruptors in pregnant women and autism or intellectual disability diagnoses in their babies. Epidemiology
• Using electroencephalography to monitor brain activity, scientists may be able to predict seizures moments before they occur. Science Translational Medicine
• A new study takes a qualitative look at what it’s like to be a girl or woman with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is more commonly associated with autism in girls than in boys, according to a population study in Denmark. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Researchers describe different baseline activity levels in various mouse models of autism.  Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Science and society

• More than 40 percent of women scientists in the United States leave their careers or go part-time after they become parents. Nature
• An autism expert describes how parents and caregivers can minimize the risks of children ‘eloping,’ or wandering away from the safety of their home or school. Forbes
• In an office where people on the spectrum are the majority, employees don’t have to second-guess social cues in meetings, the tone of their emails or whether they’ll offend others with their repetitive movements. New York Times Magazine
• Autistic writer Sara Luterman challenges the prevailing narrative that raising a child with autism usually breaks a marriage. The Washington Post

Autism and the arts

• Actor Freddie Highmore talks about playing a character with autism on the prime-time television show “The Good Doctor.” Good Morning America
• An Illinois art gallery that features artists with autism hosts its first solo exhibit, presenting wood carvings by Barry Lorberbaum. Daily Journal

Publishing

• The preprint model of publishing offers benefits for early-career researchers. PLOS Biology