Two new maps of the brain — an atlas of fetal development and a wiring diagram in the mouse — debuted 2 April in Nature. The maps may open new avenues of investigation into the genetic and neurological basis of autism.

Thought until recently to only coordinate motor skills, the cerebellum is involved in diverse cognitive functions such as language and social interaction, and may play a role in autism, says Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom.

People with autism show diminished language activity in the left halves of their brains but otherwise show typical specialization between hemispheres, according to a study published 6 February in Molecular Autism.

The ‘rich club,’ a higher-order brain network, is anatomically similar but functionally richer in adults compared with children, according to a study published 5 February in PLoS One.

A temporary shortage of microglia — immune cells in the brain that prune unnecessary neural connections — in infancy can have long-lasting effects on brain circuits and behavior, according to a study published in Nature Neuroscience on 2 February.

What evidence supports the idea that autism stems from overactive brain responses to sensory input? Researchers weigh in on this controversial theory.

The ‘intense world theory’ of autism, which has attracted much interest from the popular press, has received very little academic scrutiny. Uta Frith and Anna Remington ask: Is it as positive as it purports to be, and what does it mean for autism?

Even small differences in head motion between groups can substantially increase group differences in brain imaging scans. This underscores the importance of accounting for head motion in any study in which one population is likely to move more than another, says Kami Koldewyn.

Variants in a language gene linked to autism are only modestly associated with the disorder in a large sample, according to a study published 17 October in PLoS One.

Three studies published over the past two months have found significant evidence that children and adolescents with autism have brains that are overly connected compared with the brains of controls. The findings complicate the theory that autism is fundamentally characterized by weakly connected brain regions.