Ingfei Chen is a writer and editor in Northern California who likes telling stories about medicine, science and the environment. Her articles have published in The New York Times, Science, KQED Mindshift, Scientific American and Smithsonian, among others.
Ingfei Chen
Freelance writer
From this contributor
What baby siblings can teach us about autism
Studies of infants at risk for autism have not yielded a test to predict who will eventually be diagnosed. But they have transformed our understanding of the condition.
The gene hunters
Criss-crossing the globe on a quest for unusual DNA, researchers have discovered a rare mutation that promises insights into both epilepsy and autism — and points to a treatment.
Wide awake: Why children with autism struggle with sleep
Half of children who have autism have trouble falling or staying asleep, which may make their symptoms worse. Scientists are just beginning to explore what goes wrong in the midnight hour.
Wide awake: Why children with autism struggle with sleep
By
Ingfei Chen
7 October 2015 | 15 min read
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Each of the frog’s eight fingers branches into 16 ultra-sensitive tips, which together function as a fovea—potentially the first demonstration of this type of sensory structure outside of mammals.
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Calli McMurray
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Response to ‘Finally, a new route for the magnetic-sense field’
Magnetoreception in Drosophila has much to offer those with an interest in neuroscience.
Response to ‘Finally, a new route for the magnetic-sense field’
Magnetoreception in Drosophila has much to offer those with an interest in neuroscience.
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Denis Henshaw
30 September 2026 | 3 min read
Organoids missing the TSC2 gene form rogue astrocytes; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 28 September.
Organoids missing the TSC2 gene form rogue astrocytes; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 28 September.
By
Jill Adams
29 September 2026 | 2 min read