Identifying the factors that protect girls from autism may help us understand and possibly treat the disorder.

New evidence implicates the neurotransmitter glycine, which dampens brain signals, in autism.

DNA sequences called enhancers — which boost the expression of genes from within or outside them — are enriched for genetic variants linked to autism, suggests a new study. The finding may help researchers understand how variants outside genes contribute to autism.

Researchers are using social media and an online ‘brain-training’ program to study people with rare chromosomal abnormalities linked to autism.

Male mice with a genetic variant linked to autism vocalize less in social situations than controls do during encounters with female mice. The findings help to characterize the effects of variants in the 16p11.2 chromosomal region.

After eight years of prominence as an autism risk gene, a new analysis significantly brings down CNTNAP2’s importance in the disorder: According to the study, rare mutations in a single copy of the gene are unlikely to cause autism. 

Some newborn horses have features of autism, and researchers argue over who first described the disorder.

Less than one-third of sibling pairs with autism who carry rare mutations in autism-linked genes share those mutations, according to the largest study yet to sequence whole genomes of people with the disorder. The study questions the assumption that autism’s risk factors run in families, but some experts are skeptical.

This year was full of big headlines in autism research. But the biggest stories aren’t necessarily the best — here are some gems you may have missed over the year.

A new computational approach predicts how sequence variations in both the coding and noncoding regions of a gene affect the gene’s expression. The method, described today in Science, may help researchers understand how specific variants contribute to disorders such as autism.