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Recent articles

Artificial intelligence system categorizes interactions between mice

New software can automatically identify and quantify mouse social behavior from videos, saving researchers time.

By Lauren Schenkman
17 December 2021 | 4 min read

New mouse brain atlas traces connections in fine detail

A new wiring diagram of the mouse brain could help autism researchers better study how brain connections vary in mice with different genetic backgrounds.

By Laura Dattaro
13 January 2021 | 2 min read
illustration of mouse on sale in a city

‘Outmoded’ mouse models of autism may still yield new advances

Many researchers question the value of three early mouse models of autism, but the models have their staunch supporters.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
21 March 2018 | 6 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Mouse studies support second chance for fragile X drug

Two new studies give a boost to arbaclofen, which failed to meet expectations in clinical trials for autism and fragile X syndrome.

By Jessica Wright
28 April 2015 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Optimizing behavioral assays for mouse models of autism

As the number of autism rodent models climbs, it is a good time for the field to step back and consider the best practices for assessing autism-like symptoms in rodents, says Jacqueline Crawley.

By Jacqueline Crawley
23 September 2014 | 11 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Signaling imbalance skews sensory responses in autism mice

Mice modeling autism have trouble integrating different kinds of sensory information such as sight, sound and touch. A study published 31 July in Neuron reports that an imbalance between signals that calm neurons and those that excite them leads to these sensory problems.

By Maris Fessenden
11 August 2014 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Low-dose sedative eases autism symptoms in mice

The equivalent of one-tenth of a single pill of the anxiety drug clonazepam alleviates many autism-like behaviors in a mouse model of the disorder, according to a study published 19 March in Neuron.

By Jessica Wright
3 April 2014 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Automated tool records behavior of autism mouse models

A new tracking system automatically logs and scores mouse behavior as well as a human observer does, according to a paper published 31 December 2013 in Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

By Veronique Greenwood
5 February 2014 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Cognition and behavior: Drug ups sociability in autism mice

Rapamycin, a drug given to suppress immune rejection after transplants, improves social behavior in mice with features of autism, reports a study published in the January issue of Brain Research Bulletin.

By Laura Geggel
31 January 2014 | 2 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Compendium of mouse brains highlights autism’s diversity

By mapping the brains of not 1 but 27 mouse models of autism, researchers are making sense of the widely divergent structural changes seen in autism brains, they reported Wednesday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

By Jessica Wright
14 November 2013 | 4 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

U.S. health agency purge includes 10 lab heads at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

The reasons for selecting these researchers—who have led work on neuronal migration, dopamine receptors in neuronal signaling and the structure of ion channels, among other areas—remain unclear.

By Angie Voyles Askham, Sydney Wyatt
2 April 2025 | 5 min read

Five things to know if your federal grant is terminated

If you want to appeal the decision, know the rules that govern terminations, as well as the specific rationale given in your notice, science policy experts say.

By Calli McMurray
2 April 2025 | 7 min read

It’s time to examine neural coding from the message’s point of view

In studying the brain, we almost always take the neuron’s perspective. But we can gain new insights by reorienting our frame of reference to that of the messages flowing over brain networks.

By Daniel Graham
1 April 2025 | 0 min watch