Jon Brock is a former autism researcher who is now a science writer, medical grant writer and co-founder of Frankl Open Science.
 
        Jon Brock
                        Research fellow                        
                        Macquarie University                    
From this contributor
Virtual reality yields clues to social difficulties in autism
Assessing social ability in adults with autism requires controlled tests involving real-time social interactions. Virtual reality makes this possible.
 
            
            Virtual reality yields clues to social difficulties in autism
Quest for autism biomarkers faces steep statistical challenges
Finding a difference between people with and without autism is only the first step toward identifying a clinically useful marker of the condition.
The elusive essence of autism
Researchers must make heterogeneity in autism the object of their investigation, rather than treating it as an excuse for inconsistent results or an inconvenience in their quest to understand the disorder’s essence, argues Jon Brock.
Registered reports
The more researchers poke around, the more likely they are to find a significant effect — and the more likely that the effect they end up reporting is just a fluke. A new kind of journal article, the 'registered report,' may address this problem, says Jon Brock.
Six questions for connectivity theory research
'Underconnectivity' is considered one of the best-supported theories for the neural basis of autism. But many questions remain unanswered, says Jon Brock.
Explore more from The Transmitter
Nonhuman primate research to lose federal funding at major European facility
The Dutch Senate has ordered the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands to shift its funding away from primate experiments by 2030.
 
            
            Nonhuman primate research to lose federal funding at major European facility
The Dutch Senate has ordered the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands to shift its funding away from primate experiments by 2030.
Image integrity issues create new headache for subarachnoid hemorrhage research
First-time sleuths found potentially problematic images in hundreds of papers about early brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage.
 
            
            Image integrity issues create new headache for subarachnoid hemorrhage research
First-time sleuths found potentially problematic images in hundreds of papers about early brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Ramping up cortical activity in early life sparks autism-like behaviors in mice
The findings add fuel to the long-running debate over how an imbalance in excitatory and inhibitory signaling contributes to the autism.
 
            
            Ramping up cortical activity in early life sparks autism-like behaviors in mice
The findings add fuel to the long-running debate over how an imbalance in excitatory and inhibitory signaling contributes to the autism.
 
    