Boys with autism have thinner, significantly less dense bones than boys the same age without autism, perhaps because of a deficiency in calcium and vitamin D, says a new study.

Itʼs not often that movies, books and plays represent science accurately, or with a true and empathetic understanding of its complexity.

One of the best-known facts about autism is that it is more common in boys than in girls.

A massive three-year project launched today could help find scores of genetic variants that make some people more likely to develop autism and other diseases.

Is it possible to prevent autism from developing in the first place?

This has been a bonanza week for the role of genetics in autism.

Newspapers across the country are full today of news from California: that autism cases in that state have risen continuously between 1995 through March 2007.

Huda Zoghbi and her colleagues painstakingly sequenced the candidate genes for Rett syndrome, culminating in the 1999 Nature Genetics report that pinpointed six de novo mutations in the MeCP2 gene as the cause of the disorder.

Itʼs almost the end of 2007 and sure enough, the journals are out with their year-end issues. Scienceʼs pick for Breakthrough of the Year is human genetic variation ― in essence, small genetic differences that distinguish you, me and the weirdo neighbors next door.

If you think of the brain as a hopelessly complex jigsaw puzzle, the brains of autistic people, it turns out, are missing a key piece.