Blog
Music reigns
By Emily SingerBrain imaging studies of people with autism show that specific areas respond more strongly to song than do those of controls. The opposite is true when listening to speech.
Robot renaissance
By Virginia HughesEngineers have debuted several new robots to help children with autism, including a boy that can sense when it's touched, a female head that expresses a wide range of emotions and a low-cost fuzzy penguin that can track a child's eye movements.
Brain game
By Emily SingerA new website invites the public to help map the ‘connectome,’ the pattern of connections among all the neurons in our brain.
Lasting connections
By Emily SingerWhat makes humans so different from our primate cousins? The answer may lie in unique patterns of gene expression soon after birth, primarily in genes required to form the junctions between neurons.
Autism in Africa
By Virginia HughesIn Africa, children with autism tend to be diagnosed much later, and are more likely to be nonverbal, than their counterparts in the U.S., according to a new review.
Lip reading
By Emily SingerAs babies are learning to talk, they shift their focus from speakers’ eyes to their lips, according to a new study that could inform efforts to find an early predictor of autism.
Social science
By Emily SingerAdvocates of social networks for scientists report that the sites are helping them to connect, share information and solve problems. Will that help speed up the pace of discovery?
Fishing for folate
By Virginia HughesA new study claims that low folate levels contribute to autism and offers a tenuous explanation for the low levels.
Risky business
By Alan PackerThe genome-wide association study has been the favorite whipping post among some geneticists, but three new reviews come to its defense.
Video insights
By Virginia HughesA new online collection of definitions and short video clips aims to help parents and researchers distinguish among a wide variety of clinical therapies for autism.
