Heavier newborns have larger brains later in life, and a larger cerebral cortex — the brain region responsible for high-level functions such as consciousness and language. The findings, published 19 November in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are the first to assess birth weight’s connection to brain development.

‘Hyperscanning,’ a set of techniques for simultaneously measuring brain activity in two people, is yielding insights into autism.

Loss of one copy of TBR1, an autism-linked gene involved in fetal brain development, leads to brain malformations, according to a study published in the September issue of Molecular Syndromology.

Researchers have developed a method to fix and stain intact mouse brains for electron microscopy, according to a study published 21 October in Nature Methods. The technique allows them to trace the paths of neurons as they project across the brain.

An autism-linked protein called CASPR2 promotes the development of dendrites, the bushy structures atop neurons that receive signals from other neurons, according to a study published 30 October in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lowering CASPR2 levels leads to sparse dendrites and few synapses, the junctions between neurons.

Nearly half of children with malformation of the corpus callosum, which links the two hemispheres of the brain, have symptoms of autism, according to a study published 5 October in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Four new studies of neuroligin-1 (NLGN1), a gene linked to autism, unravel its complex role in regulating the connections between neurons.

The brains of individuals with autism express low levels of genes involved in metabolism and protein assembly, according to a postmortem study published 12 September in PLoS One.

Adults with autism are less specific and less reliable than controls at recognizing emotions from facial expressions, according to a study published 27 September in Neuropsychologia.

Researchers have charted patterns of gene expression in a three-dimensional representation of the human brain. The results, published 20 September in Nature, show that different brain regions have distinct molecular and functional roles.