Signs and Symptoms

Recent articles

Illustration of a child asleep with brainwave-like lines superimposed above them.

Exploring the connection between autism and sleep

The Transmitter rounds up the latest research on autism and sleep.

By Daisy Yuhas
7 November 2024 | 2 min read
A hand reaches from above to add a pill to a stack that is resting against the x-axis of a graph.

Looking at eye tracking’s potential for clinical trials

This month’s Going on Trial newsletter explores how eye tracking might be used beyond helping with diagnosis, among other drug development news.

By Calli McMurray
28 September 2023 | 6 min read
A young boy sits alone on a bench in a playground.

Mental health issues emerge with shifts in autism traits across childhood

Anxiety and other challenges autistic children experience may stem from an increase in social-communication issues and a decrease in repetitive behaviors from ages 6 to 11.

By Charles Q. Choi
27 September 2023 | 3 min read
Two mice touching.

‘Social touch’ responses in mice gauged with unprecedented control

A new tool could help decipher the brain circuits underlying aversion to social touch, which is common in people with autism.

By Celia Ford
19 September 2023 | 4 min read
Research image of neurons in mice.

Skewed signaling in striatum may spawn repetitive behaviors

Synaptic changes in the brain region could drive a core trait of fragile X syndrome, a new mouse study suggests.

By Holly Barker
6 September 2023 | 3 min read
Young child stacks colored blocks on a table.

High prevalence of developmental delay strains Australia’s support systems

The nation needs to build capacity to support the roughly 20 percent of children in Australia who have developmental delay.

By Andrew Whitehouse
1 September 2023 | 5 min read
Five high-school-aged students sit on a bench looking at notebooks and a laptop.

Social skills decline during adolescence for a sliver of autistic youth

Most children with the condition, however, gain communication and social abilities over time.

By Calli McMurray
24 August 2023 | 4 min read
Illustrated portrait of Amy Wetherby.

Amy Wetherby: Impatient for progress

A speech-language pathologist by training, Wetherby has spent more than four decades developing tools to help identify and treat autism early; now her work has taken on a more personal sense of urgency.

By Daisy Yuhas
26 July 2023 | 13 min read
Black and white watercolor-style portrait of Cheryl Dissanayake.

The story of autism research in Australia: A conversation with Cheryl Dissanayake

With the help of a generous benefactor, autism research in Australia is gathering critical mass.

By Brady Huggett
25 July 2023 | 1 min read
Illustration of half of a brain on the left and half of a heart on the right

Change of heart and mind: Autism’s ties to cardiac defects

Children with congenital heart disease have an increased likelihood of autism. Why?

By Lauren Schenkman
21 July 2023 | 12 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of distorted lines of different colors being pulled into a box where they are smoothed in a single multicolored line.

The Transmitter’s favorite essays and columns of 2024

From sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease to enduring citation bias, experts weighed in on important scientific and practical issues in neuroscience.

By The Transmitter
23 December 2024 | 2 min read
A curly line connects two pencils that are hovering over overlapping speech bubbles.

Say what? The Transmitter’s top quotes of 2024

“We’ve cured mouse-heimer’s thousands of times...”—find out who said this to a Transmitter reporter, and read our other favorite quotes from the past year.

By The Transmitter
23 December 2024 | 2 min read
Four microphones on a table with speech bubbles above them.

The Transmitter’s favorite podcasts of 2024

Our picks include a deep dive into dopamine, the role of PKMzeta in memory, and studying the stomatogastric ganglion.

By The Transmitter
23 December 2024 | 1 min read