The nation’s largest database of autism research is about to get even bigger, thanks to a partnership between the National Database for Autism Research, a repository of data from 25,000 participants, and the Autism Genetic Research Exchange, a database of 2,500 families.

Researchers have designed a light, mobile and wireless device that allows them to track infants’ gaze as they explore their environment, according to a study published in November in Child Development.

The rise of whole-genome sequencing is likely to result in a deluge of lawsuits against doctors for misinterpreting disease risks, two lawyers caution in an essay in Slate.

In the brains of some individuals with autism, chemical changes to histones, proteins entwined with DNA, tend to show up near genes linked to the disorder, according to a study published 7 November in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

In China, some parents of children with developmental disorders seek help — sometimes hundreds of miles from home — but have trouble getting it because of poor healthcare infrastructure, high costs, long lines and doctors’ lack of awareness.

Supplements of omega-3 fatty acids, prime ingredients of fish oils, don’t improve symptoms in children with autism, according to a new review.

More than 70 percent of individuals lacking the autism-associated 16p11.2 chromosomal region are overweight or obese, according to a study published 20 September in the Journal of Genetics and Genomics.

People with autism have structural changes in parts of the cerebellum that are distinct from those seen in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia, according to an unpublished meta-analysis presented at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Researchers have charted the expression of tiny pieces of RNA in postmortem brain tissue from people with autism, according to unpublished research presented Tuesday at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

In a Nature commentary, Laurent Mottron, professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal, argues that autism is not a defect that needs fixing.