Conversations with researchers at the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research in San Sebastián, Spain, raised provocative questions about the nature of autism. How do we make sense of its staggering heterogeneity, multiple genetic causes and widespread overlap with other disorders?

Watch the complete replay of Flora Vaccarino describing how to model brain development using induced pluripotent stem cells. Submit your own follow-up questions.

Girls with autism carry more mutations than do boys with the disorder, and show greater differences in brain activity and response to social cues, according to several preliminary studies presented at the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research in San Sebastián, Spain.

By analyzing the expression patterns of nine candidate genes for autism, researchers have identified a population of cells and a select time during fetal development that may be key to the disorder.

We checked in from the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research with daily reactions from this year’s attendees.

A ten-minute screen combining a parent questionnaire and home video can detect autism with 90 percent specificity, according to unpublished research presented Thursday at the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research in San Sebastián, Spain.

A new initiative aims to collect brain tissue for autism research, adding welcome resources to the struggling Autism Tissue Program, according to an announcement today at the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research in San Sebastián, Spain.

A candidate drug for Angelman syndrome shows promise in activating the gene silenced in people with the disorder, and only that gene. Why doesn’t it unsilence other genes?

A 36-question survey detects features of autism in as much as 23 percent of parents of children with autism and 9 percent of control parents, researchers reported 20 February in Autism Research.

A light-emitting device implanted in a mouse brain can activate neurons wirelessly, allowing researchers to control and observe the mouse’s behavior, according to a report published 12 April in Science.