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Recent articles

An abstract illustration of boxes connected by lines

Name this network: Addressing huge inconsistencies across studies

Entrenched practices have stymied efforts to build a universal taxonomy of functional brain networks. But a new tool to standardize brain-imaging findings could bring us a step closer.

By Lucina Q. Uddin
3 January 2024 | 5 min read
Brain scans displaying activity in areas linked with social behavior.

People’s perceptions of ‘social’ animations don’t always square with researchers’ labels

The finding calls into question differences between autistic and non-autistic people on a decades-old theory-of-mind test involving interacting geometric shapes.

By Charles Q. Choi
22 February 2023 | 6 min read
a grid of 9 brain maps showing activity in different areas of the brain

Brain networks diverge in autism by toddlerhood

By as early as age 2, autistic children appear to have a smaller salience network and a larger default mode network, among other differences, than children without the condition.

By Laura Dattaro
8 June 2022 | 4 min read
Baby getting an MRI scan

Imaging study casts doubt on cerebellum’s role in autism during infancy

Connections between the cerebellum and brain networks do not seem to contribute substantially to the emergence of autism traits.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
13 January 2021 | 3 min read
Brain images showing differences in signaling in autistic and normal brains.

Brain signal imbalance tracks with sex and with camouflaging autism traits

Autistic men show a greater imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory signaling in the brain than autistic women do, which could explain sex differences in ‘camouflaging.’

By Peter Hess
17 September 2020 | 5 min read
Collage illustration showing Lucina Uddin portrait with eye movements and brain images

Rethinking ‘noise’ in autism research

Lucina Uddin says researchers should be cautious when analyzing their findings, because 'noisy' data may actually hold important information about brain functioning.

By Jonathan Moens
11 August 2020 | 7 min read
three teens chatting

Brain responses to social stimuli may vary by sex in autism

Autistic girls’ brains respond more strongly to social stimuli than do autistic boys’.

By Laura Dattaro
29 June 2020 | 5 min read
Two sides of a 3D human brain showing different areas highlighted in various colors

Brains of autistic people show unusual left-right symmetry

The hemispheres in autistic people’s brains are more symmetrical than those of their typical peers, but it is unclear what this difference means.

By Peter Hess
4 December 2019 | 4 min read
overlapping network of connections in the brain

The connectivity theory of autism, explained

A growing body of evidence suggests that autism involves atypical communication between brain regions, but how and where in the brain this plays out is unclear.

By Rachel Zamzow
1 May 2019 | 4 min read

Large set of brain scans reveals no telltale signs of autism

The brains of autistic children show few differences from those of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or even of controls.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
21 March 2019 | 4 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Hand holding a rubber stamp above a stack of papers.

Exclusive: Autism researchers ‘pleasantly surprised’ by list of NIH data project grantees, despite initial concerns

An atypical funding mechanism, truncated application timeline and opaque review process had generated concern over the quality of projects that would be selected for the Autism Data Science Initiative.

By Calli McMurray
2 October 2025 | 10 min read
Richard Frye.

Exclusive: Who is Richard Frye, the neurologist who researches and advocates for leucovorin as an autism treatment?

Frye has led two placebo-controlled trials of the folate supplement in autistic people; the first was suspended by regulators, and the other has yet to be published.

By Brendan Borrell
1 October 2025 | 11 min read
Illustration of a brain surrounded by a stylized silhouette of a human head with psychedelic colors and textures.

Why we need basic science to better understand the neurobiology of psychedelics

Despite the many psychedelics clinical trials underway, there is still much we don’t know about how these drugs work. Preclinical studies represent our best viable avenue to answer these lingering questions.

By Devin Effinger, Melissa Herman
1 October 2025 | 7 min listen

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