People with autism have fewer children than average, and so do their brothers, according to a study of Swedes born between 1950 and 1970.

Late this summer, a paper from Yale University researchers led by Jo Handelsman delivered some sobering news: There is still a clear bias against female scientists. The findings confirm the impression of many women in science, at all career levels, who feel undervalued.

Men with autism struggle with attention to detail and dexterity, according to a study published 17 October in PLoS One. Men and women with the disorder both have trouble with social skills, however.

Most cases of Rett syndrome in China are the result of mutations on the paternal copy of MeCP2, according to a study published 27 August in the European Journal of Medical Genetics.

Female mice of two different genetic backgrounds consistently model the behavioral features of Rett syndrome, according to a study published 9 October in Human Molecular Genetics. Although Rett syndrome presents almost entirely in girls, researchers have thus far relied mostly on male mice to model the disorder.

Girls with Asperger syndrome are diagnosed, on average, two years later than boys, and the delay is even worse among adults with classic autism, according to a large study in the Netherlands published 22 September in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Girls are less likely to be diagnosed with autism than boys are, unless they also have intellectual or behavioral problems, according to a study published 26 June in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Mutations in AFF2, a gene located on the X chromosome, are about five times as common in men with autism as in controls, according to a study published 10 July in Human Molecular Genetics.

Women who have intelligence quotients in the normal range may nevertheless have fragile X syndrome, often described as the most common inherited form of mental retardation, according to a case study published 27 June in Molecular Autism.

About 40 percent of individuals with Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, also have autism, according to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A.