In this week’s community newsletter, we dissect reactions to an anti-vaccine activist’s controversial paper, how doctors talk about autism and our new double empathy explainer.
Webinar: Laurent Mottron on the need for radical change in autism research.
Here is a roundup of news and research for the week of 19 July.
Problems with falling and staying asleep are common in autism, and they may be due in part to leaks in the blood-brain barrier, according to a new study in fruit flies.
The double empathy theory challenges the idea that social difficulties are specific to autism and suggests that problems arise from a mismatch in perspective between autistic and non-autistic people.
A new technique can reveal where thousands of neurons send their axons — and measure the cells’ RNA levels for dozens of genes at the same time — in the mouse brain. It could be used to profile neural circuits underlying autism.
When probing the circuits underlying social behavior in animal models of autism, researchers should consider potentially confounding variables, use multiple behavioral assays and report results in a descriptive and unbiased manner.
Neurons in mice with an autism-linked mutation sprout extraneous protrusions, an overgrowth accompanied by above-average motor learning. Inhibiting a cell signaling pathway reverses the effect.
In this week’s Community Newsletter, we dissect a new online version of the Frith-Happé test, a strengths-based diagnostic approach, and autistic children’s trajectories after diagnosis.
Here is a roundup of news and research for the week of 12 July.