Genes influence how autistic people react to sights, sounds and other sensory cues, whereas environmental factors shape their tendency to notice and seek out such stimuli, a new study in twins suggests.

An expanding collection of websites compiles up-to-date information on the characteristics of people with mutations in genes linked to autism and other conditions.

Treating mice missing the autism-linked gene CNTNAP2 with a strain of gut bacteria makes them more social but no less hyperactive.

Mutations in CHD8 lead to brain overgrowth or undergrowth in mice, depending on how they affect the gene’s expression.

There is not yet a single example of a gene that, when mutated, increases the likelihood of autism but not of other neurodevelopmental conditions, including intellectual disability.

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

A growing body of evidence shows that brain cells called oligodendrocytes may play a larger role in autism than previously thought.

Researchers have devised a way to use fluorescent sensors to detect many different signaling molecules in a cell at once.

People with fragile X syndrome in Colombia are diagnosed at age 27, on average, according to the first study to assess diagnosis in the country. By comparison, the average age of fragile X diagnosis in the United States is younger than 4.

Some neurons activate autism-linked genes when they fire, according to a new study.