Daisy Yuhas commissions and edits stories for Spectrum on The Transmitter. A freelance science journalist and editor based in Austin, Texas, she has edited features, news and opinions for multiple publications, including SAPIENS and Scientific American MIND. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, Audubon, The Hechinger Report and Symmetry, among other outlets. (Photograph by Brio Photography)
Daisy Yuhas
Contributing editor
Spectrum
From this contributor
‘Slightly unhinged’ federal autism meeting portends unclear research priorities
The meeting last week sparked concerns about the latest Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee’s ability to perform its core function: developing a strategy to support autism research.
‘Slightly unhinged’ federal autism meeting portends unclear research priorities
By
Daisy Yuhas
7 May 2026 | 6 min read
Perspectives from the field: Opinions in autism research
This collection of Spectrum articles from the past 12 months highlights expert perspectives on autism’s heritability and its link to biological sex, the value of transdiagnostic frameworks, and the field’s future, among other topics.
Perspectives from the field: Opinions in autism research
By
Daisy Yuhas
10 July 2025 | 3 min read
Genetic testing; LSD1 inhibitors; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 30 June.
Dosage of X or Y chromosome relates to distinct outcomes; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 23 June.
Dosage of X or Y chromosome relates to distinct outcomes; and more
By
Daisy Yuhas
24 June 2025 | 2 min read
Reporter’s notebook: Highlights from INSAR 2025
The annual meeting brought autism researchers, advocates and clinicians to Seattle to discuss the latest research, including attempts to define subgroups, a potential new CHD8 macaque model and life expectancy gaps.
Explore more from The Transmitter
Revisiting the neural correlates of consciousness
Life happens in real time, but experience may be composed in ragtime—like the music genre, full of offbeat notes and uneven rhythms. The assumption that waking life consists of a “stream” of conscious representations has inadvertently led consciousness science to its current impasse.
Revisiting the neural correlates of consciousness
Life happens in real time, but experience may be composed in ragtime—like the music genre, full of offbeat notes and uneven rhythms. The assumption that waking life consists of a “stream” of conscious representations has inadvertently led consciousness science to its current impasse.
By
Francis T. Fallon, Michael Pitts
28 September 2026 | 7 min read
Grant review needs reform. How about we add an element of chance?
A process that uses a lottery system saves time, reduces strategic resubmission and accepts that, above a quality threshold, luck has always played a part in science funding.
Grant review needs reform. How about we add an element of chance?
A process that uses a lottery system saves time, reduces strategic resubmission and accepts that, above a quality threshold, luck has always played a part in science funding.
By
Adrien Peyrache
25 September 2026 | 6 min read
Fly neurons carry molecular signatures of their origins
The pattern of transcription factors a Drosophila neuron expresses offers clues to its lineage and birth order—and ultimately how neural circuits emerge.
Fly neurons carry molecular signatures of their origins
The pattern of transcription factors a Drosophila neuron expresses offers clues to its lineage and birth order—and ultimately how neural circuits emerge.
By
Alissa de Chassey
25 September 2026 | 5 min read