In this edition of Null and Noteworthy, researchers rebut a controversial epidural study, test out autism assessments in toddlers and give the okay for multilingualism in autistic children.

Children with highly folded and curved brains in utero tend to show autism-linked behaviors at 18 months of age, according to a longitudinal brain-imaging study.

Certain antibodies may shape neurodevelopment by attaching to and invading new neurons in the brain.

Too little — or too much — of certain substances during pregnancy may increase the odds of having a child with autism. Here we explain what scientists know about these associations.

The pace of fetal head growth is associated with behavioral outcomes two years later, according to a new study.

A typically protective stress response could help to explain the connection between maternal illness and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions are more common among children born by C-section than those delivered vaginally, but the procedure itself does not underlie the association, according to a new study.

Newborns with either above- or below-average levels of an immune-system marker, among other differences, have increased odds of being autistic.

Women who receive epidural anesthesia during labor have an elevated chance of having a child with autism, a new study has found. But it is too soon for doctors to recommend against epidurals, experts say.

Extremely preterm babies later diagnosed with autism tend to show steep declines in development, a pattern that could flag them for intervention as early as 6 months of age.