Amber Dance is an award-winning freelance science writer based in Southern California. She contributes to publications including PNAS Front Matter, The Scientist, and Nature.
Amber Dance
From this contributor
Levels of autism severity in diagnostic manual track with intelligence
A rating of high severity of autism from the DSM-5, the latest version of the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” tracks with low intelligence scores.
Levels of autism severity in diagnostic manual track with intelligence
By
Amber Dance
26 March 2018 | 4 min read
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Dispute erupts over universal cortical brain-wave claim
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Waves of calcium activity dictate eye structure in flies
Synchronized signals in non-neuronal retinal cells draw the tiny compartments of a fruit fly’s compound eye into alignment during pupal development.
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Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex
The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.
Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex
The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.
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Holly Barker
11 December 2025 | 5 min read