Skip to main content

Spectrum: Autism Research News

topic /

Science & Society

From funding decisions to scientific fraud, a wide range of societal factors shape autism research.

August 2011

Virtual reality helps track body balance in autism

by  /  3 August 2011

With a few screen projectors, a pair of three-dimensional glasses and an 8-foot cubicle, researchers have transported adolescents with autism into shaky virtual worlds and discovered that they have surprisingly stable posture.

Comments
July 2011

Fragile X protein found to regulate key autism candidates

by  /  28 July 2011

The protein missing in people with fragile X syndrome regulates the activity of more than 800 other proteins, including some key players in autism, according to a study published 22 July in Cell. Many of these autism-associated proteins cluster on either side of the synapse, the junction between neurons.

Comments

Wendy Chung: Genetic sleuth is advocate for families

by  /  21 July 2011

Wendy Chung planned to spend her career in a research lab, identifying rare pathologies. But life had other plans for her.

Comments

Shape shifters

by  /  19 July 2011

Breaking down the learning of new concepts into small steps may help people with autism retain new skills.

Comments

Parent trap

by  /  15 July 2011

Mothers of children with autism are rated by their husbands as rigid and inflexible whereas fathers are viewed by their wives as aloof. Perhaps these qualities are reinforced by the challenges of raising a child with the disorder?

Comments

Masked emotions

by  /  12 July 2011

A new study shows that women with high-functioning autism appear better able to camouflage their symptoms, perhaps because they are more self-aware than men with the disorder.

Comments

Lonely hunters

by  /  8 July 2011

Cognitive traits associated with autism may have helped our ancestors survive, according to a fascinating new study. But those traits are no longer an advantage.

Comments

Autism as alibi

by  /  5 July 2011

Some computer hackers are pleading their autism diagnosis to avoid jail time.

Comments

Studying infant sibs of children with autism spectrum disorder

by  /  5 July 2011

Studying the infant siblings of children who have autism to identify early signs of the disorder is expected to have enormous impact on the field from a clinical and a basic science standpoint, says psychologist Karen Dobkins.

Comments

Reclassification of Rett syndrome diagnosis stirs concerns

by  /  4 July 2011

A plan by an American Psychiatric Association revision committee to remove Rett syndrome from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has sparked concern among some parents and researchers. But proponents of the change say the plan has been widely misunderstood, and their goal is better treatment for people with the neurodevelopmental disorder.

Comments