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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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2025
TROINA, ITALY
19th Troina Meeting on Genetics of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
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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
“Untangling the molecular mechanisms contributing to autism spectrum disorder using stem cells”
By ZOE MATTINGLY et al. IN AUTISM RESEARCH
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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
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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Familiar autism-linked genes emerge from first analysis of Latin American cohort

The findings, detailed in a January preprint, suggest autism’s fundamental biology is the same regardless of ancestry. But questions remain.

By Laura Dattaro
20 February 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of brain signaling.

Depression perception; MYT1L mice; brain signal variability

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

By Jill Adams
18 February 2025 | 1 min read
A young child in a blue shirt sits in a red chair and speaks to an adult at the edge of the frame.

AI tool estimates social ability by analyzing speech

The system’s code and training data—drawn from one of the largest databases of speech recordings from autistic people—are openly available.

By Charles Q. Choi
13 February 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of neural rosettes.

TSC2 gene; cortical thickness; long noncoding RNA

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 10 February.

By Jill Adams
11 February 2025 | 1 min read
Research image of mouse olfactory bulbs.

Olfaction; autism-linked genes in monkeys; eye movements

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

By Jill Adams
4 February 2025 | 1 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

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Null and Noteworthy, relaunched: Probing a schizophrenia biomarker

This edition of Null and Noteworthy—the first for The Transmitter—highlights new findings about the auditory steady-state response in people with schizophrenia that, all within one study, somehow packed in a null result and a failed replication.

By Laura Dattaro
28 February 2025 | 5 min read
Computer-generated images of the human brain showing functional networks.

Cell ‘fingerprints’ identify distinct cortical networks

These networks align with different assemblages of cells, a finding that could reveal how cellular diversity influences brain function, according to a new study.

By Holly Barker
28 February 2025 | 4 min read
Two mice sleeping.

Soft touch quells loneliness in mice

Touch modulates one of two dueling types of hypothalamic neurons that, thermostat-like, balance an animal’s drive for social interaction.

By Angie Voyles Askham
26 February 2025 | 6 min read