But the alternatives, including living-brain biopsies, raise logistical and ethical questions, experts say.

These scores — composite measures of a person’s autism-linked common genetic variants — cannot predict an autism diagnosis but could help researchers better understand the condition’s underlying biology.

The findings add to the growing evidence that genes with disparate functions can play similar roles in brain development.

Genes exert their strongest influence on the brain in the first half of gestation — a key window for autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.

The gene, FOXP1, influences an animal’s motivation to listen to social communication, a new study suggests.

The changes may help explain the link between maternal infection and autism, though more research is needed.

A machine-learning technique applied to brain imaging data appears to predict a person’s mix of verbal intelligence, social affect and repetitive behaviors.

The proteins are part of a newly discovered complex that mends genetic damage exclusively in neurons.

Both human and mouse progenitor cells with the alterations struggle to become neurons and instead express genes that are typically active only in muscle or the heart.

The treatment eases the animals’ sleep troubles, suggesting it has clinically meaningful effects beyond what was thought to be a critical window in early life.