Earlier this week, at a staff meeting at the foundation, we were talking, as we often do, about the relationship between genes and autism, and the tenuous, ill-understood connections between the two.

If youʼve read this blog before, you know that I believe that the rising numbers of autism cases, the “epidemic” if you will, may be explained by changes in how we diagnose the disease now, and because of the special services available to children with autism.

For many parents with autism, the ultimate goal is to have their children lead lives that are as ‘normalʼ as possible ― and that includes attending mainstream schools, where their child would be just like everyone else.

Iʼve heard anecdotally that adults with autism sometimes die unexpectedly.

Let me first apologize for not having updated the blog in a few days. I was away getting married last weekend, while news in the world of autism piled up…

In the past few days, the New York Times has run a couple of articles featuring people with autism.

In the past few days, the New York Times has run a couple of articles featuring people with autism.

Autism is sometime called the result of an ‘extreme male brainʼ.

Between Thursday and Sunday last week, New York played host to the first annual World Science Festival, a fantastic lineup of events featuring more than 125 of the worldʼs most brilliant and original thinkers.

Everyone in the scientific community is talking about Francis Collinsʼ unexpected decision to step down on 1 August as director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute.