2015: Year in review

Recent articles

Spectrum from The Transmitter.

What’s the hardest part of an autism researcher’s job?

Scientists dish about the biggest challenges they face as they tackle tough questions about autism.

By Ingrid Wickelgren
22 December 2015 | 6 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Notable papers of 2015

Our top 10 papers for this year, based on input from autism researchers, capture the full spectrum of findings — from molecular biology to large-scale epidemiology.

By Spectrum
22 December 2015 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Hot topics of 2015

Here’s a rundown of five trending topics that are turning traditional assumptions about autism on their head.

By Katie Moisse
22 December 2015 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Quotes of the year

Here are some of our favorite quotes, by those who study autism and those who live with it, from articles we published in 2015.

By Spectrum
22 December 2015 | 1 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Artist with autism illustrates ‘invisible disability’

Sounds, smells and social encounters are just a few of the challenges that Leironica Hawkins, an artist on the spectrum, faces every day.

By Spectrum
22 December 2015 | 1 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Research one-liners

Autism researchers distill countless hours of frantic grant-writing and experiments into a single sentence — with some hilarious results.

By Jessica Wright
22 December 2015 | 1 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Spectrum’s first year

To say this has been a momentous year for the website would be an understatement.

By Spectrum
22 December 2015 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Staff picks from 2015

Some of our favorite stories this year went beyond the news to lay bare critical controversies or highlight real-world implications of research.

By Katie Moisse
22 December 2015 | 3 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Two lab mice fighting.

From friend to foe: How the brain updates feelings toward others

A specific hippocampus-to-amygdala pathway reassigns emotional valence to a known individual, whereas the hippocampus’s own representation of that individual’s identity remains stable.

By Natalia Mesa
9 July 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of scientist in lab coat looking at shelves of computer network models.

Mass-produced science is coming. What happens to scientists?

Artificial intelligence may soon enable researchers to generate high-quality science at a previously unimaginable speed. For science consumers—the public, medical patients, technology users—the likely effects will be positive. For scientists, the effects will be as disruptive as industrial mass production was for artisan manufacturers.

By Kenneth Harris
9 July 2026 | 9 min read
Adriano Aguzzi.

Neuropathologist not guilty of research misconduct, says university probe

The investigation determined that seven papers by corresponding author Adriano Aguzzi have “scientifically significant” errors, which Aguzzi attributes to his former students.

By Dalmeet Singh Chawla
8 July 2026 | 5 min read