A new microscopy technique allows researchers to take high-resolution three-dimensional images of intact mouse brains.

The first wave of data from the Human Connectome Project, a five-year $30 million effort to map the structure of the human brain, is now freely available, researchers announced at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

An in-depth analysis of tissue from a large number of autism brains eases some of the qualms about their use in research, according to a poster presented Monday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

Women who have a history of bipolar disorder or depression are more likely to have a child with Asperger syndrome than classic autism, according to a study published in the 2012 issue of Autism Research and Treatment.

One research team is cataloging the vocalizations of 1,000 different mice, and a second group is creating a tool that will allow researchers to distinguish calls made by several mice as they interact, according to two posters presented Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

The wobbly handwriting of many children with autism may reflect differences in their brains’ motor and working memory systems, according to a poster presented Monday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.

Individually, common genetic variants confer little risk for autism. But taken together, they may contribute significantly, predicts a statistical analysis published 15 October in Molecular Autism.

After nine long years, the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting is returning to New Orleans. And SFARI.org’s reporters are ready to deliver the best advances in autism research that emerge.

Emerging technologies and software may help assess the subtle behaviors, such as gaze or social gestures, that go awry in children with autism, researchers said at the Engineering and Autism conference earlier this month.

Sophisticated eye-tracking tools and other technologies are making it easier to record and analyze social interactions, and may help researchers study social deficits in children with autism. Researchers debuted some of these tools 28 September at the Engineering and Autism conference in Los Angeles.