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Spectrum is the go-to destination for the latest news and analysis about autism research and a springboard for scientists and clinicians to forge collaborations that deepen our understanding of autism.

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APRIL
9
2025
NEW YORK CITY
12th Annual Autism Science Foundation Day of Learning
9 APRIL 2025
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It’s just a loss to science, and it’s happening to so many terrific people. — LAURA ANTHONY, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS

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WHAT WE ARE READING
“I was diagnosed with autism at 53. I know why rates are rising."
By HOLDEN THORPE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Spectrum

The perils of parachute research

Scientists who study autism in lower-income countries are working to end practices that exploit or ignore collaborators and communities on the ground.

By Linda Nordling
6 June 2024 | 11 min read
GIF animation: Research video of a zebrafish larva (zoomed in on the gut) being given glucose.
Spectrum

On the periphery: Thinking ‘outside the brain’ offers new ideas about autism

Neuronal alterations outside the brain may help to explain a host of the condition’s characteristic traits, including sensory changes, gut problems and motor differences.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
13 April 2023 | 20 min read
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Research image of mouse brains showing altered migration of upper-layer neurons.

Restoring excitation-inhibition balance in a mouse model of autism; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 17 March.

By Jill Adams
18 March 2025 | 2 min read
Research image of gene expression.

Sequencing study spotlights tight web of genes tied to autism

The findings, shared in a preprint, help to illuminate how a large and heterogeneous group of genes could be involved in autism.

By Katie Moisse
13 March 2025 | 5 min read
Dendritic spine images.

Targeting NMDA receptor subunit reverses fragile X traits in mice

The subunit acts as a “volume control” on signaling that shapes the density of dendritic spines, the new work suggests.

By Angie Voyles Askham
6 March 2025 | 5 min read
A pregnant woman seen in profile, sitting on the edge of a bed.

Maternal infection’s link to autism may be a mirage

Family-linked factors explain most associations between maternal illness and autism, a study of 1.1 million Danish children finds.

By Charles Q. Choi
6 March 2025 | 3 min read
Research image of enlarged brain ventricles in a mouse model of hydrocephalus.

Vocal language development in genetically different twins; gaze behavior in face-to-face conversation

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 3 March.

By Jill Adams
4 March 2025 | 3 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Video catches microglia in the act of synaptic pruning

Live cell imaging reveals the clearest picture yet of this elusive process. Whether it’s something these cells do regularly remains up for debate.

By RJ Mackenzie
26 March 2025 | 0 min watch

Gabriele Scheler reflects on the interplay between language, thought and AI

She discusses how verbal thought shapes cognition, why inner speech is foundational to human intelligence and what current artificial-intelligence models get wrong about language.

By Paul Middlebrooks
26 March 2025 | 96 min listen
Data streams into a transparent box.

Accepting “the bitter lesson” and embracing the brain’s complexity

To gain insight into complex neural data, we must move toward a data-driven regime, training large models on vast amounts of information. We asked nine experts on computational neuroscience and neural data analysis to weigh in.

By Eva Dyer, Blake Richards
26 March 2025 | 8 min read