Online tools to collect data on children with autism provide an opportunity to expand sample sizes and reach a broader audience. But how far can these tools go in replacing traditional clinical evaluations?

A new method that renders the brain transparent generates unprecedented views of long-range neuronal connections, researchers reported 10 April in Nature.

Researchers have adapted a motion-sensing video game controller to detect repetitive movements that are characteristic of autism, according to a preliminary study published in the 2012 Conference Proceedings – IEEE Engineering Medical Biological Society.

Matthew Goodwin aims to use wearable sensors and computational techniques to help scientists understand hand flapping and other behaviors in children with autism.

In his Directors’ Column, Alan Packer points out how a number of autism risk genes act on a common cellular pathway regulated by a single protein. What other similar convergent paths might be hiding in the literature? Let’s go on a treasure hunt.

Show an image of a neuron to NEMO, a new free software tool, and it will trace the neuron’s shape and detail the length, breadth and number of its branches, scientists who designed the software reported 14 February in Frontiers in Neuroinformatics.

New methods to deal with motion artifacts in brain imaging data are critically important, says Mike Tyszka.

The search for rapid autism diagnosis has been elusive so far. Several researchers are instead looking for ways to prioritize the assessment of children at risk for the disorder, quickly establishing a diagnosis when it’s clear-cut and referring more complex cases for in-depth evaluation.

Systematic analysis of video clips is better than questionnaires are at assessing repetitive movements in children with autism, says Sylvie Goldman.

Small regions of DNA that are structurally prone to deletions and duplications are unlikely to play a major role in autism, according to research published 7 February in the American Journal of Human Genetics.