Male mice with a genetic variant tied to autism may have learning difficulties that females with the variant do not.

Researchers have used transcranial magnetic stimulation to show that people with fragile X syndrome have weak ‘inhibitory’ signals, those that dampen neuronal activity in the brain.

Deleting FMR1, the gene mutated in fragile X syndrome, in subsets of mouse neurons leads to distinct features of the condition.

Researchers have used light to manipulate neurons that dampen brain activity in rhesus macaques.

Introducing the gene UBE3A into neurons that dampen brain activity prevents seizures in a mouse model of Angelman syndrome.

Drugs that block certain brain enzymes could help treat two conditions associated with autism.

A gene called TRIO may be a hotbed for autism mutations, an international collaboration focuses on the whole brain and one behavior, and Autism Speaks cuts grant spending.

Music therapy proves ineffective for autism, brain structures differ with 16p11.2 duplications and deletions, and mice missing NLGN3 may influence the sociability of their littermates.

Turning on a set of neurons that dampen brain activity improves social behavior in a mouse model of autism; turning off neurons that excite brain activity does the same thing.

A drug that keeps neurons bathed in the chemical messenger serotonin prevents social abnormalities in a mouse model of dup15q syndrome.