Autism prevalence is five times higher in young adults born weighing 2,000 grams or less compared with controls, according to a study published 17 October in Pediatrics.

A well-studied mouse model of autism has a smaller-than-normal volume in several autism-associated brain regions.

A five-minute online questionnaire can diagnose autism with as much accuracy as the so-called gold standard diagnostic tests, according to unpublished findings presented Tuesday at the Autism Consortium 2011 symposium in Boston.

Researchers have defined anatomical boundaries that minimize errors in brain-imaging measures of the amygdala, a region involved in emotion processing.

A massive association study links five new genetic regions to schizophrenia and implicates MIR137, a regulatory RNA that plays a role in neuron development, in the disorder.

Individuals with autism are no more likely to donate money when being observed than when alone.

There should be more research on sensory sensitivity in autism, which severely affects quality of life, says bestselling author and animal scientist Temple Grandin.

A large epidemiological study in Utah that relies on tax information and health records shows that income level does not affect the odds of having a child with autism or intellectual disability.

In families that have more than one child with autism, the middle children, particularly those born second, have a higher risk of developing autism than other children in the family, according to a study published 19 October in PLoS One. In families that have only one child with autism, however, risk of the disorder rises with each additional birth, the study found.

A new study describes a mutant mouse that, despite missing an autism-linked gene, doesn’t show any autism-like behaviors.