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Spectrum is the go-to destination for the latest news and analysis about autism research and a springboard for scientists and clinicians to forge collaborations that deepen our understanding of autism.

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JANUARY
13
2025
TAIPEI
Mitochondrial Biology in Health and Disease
13-16 JANUARY 2025
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I have spent countless sleepless nights doing what I can to ensure that children in Ukraine are not forgotten. — CHRYSTINA DOLYNIUK

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WHAT WE ARE READING
“A patient organization perspective: charting the course to a cure for SCN2A-related disorders”
By LEAH F. SCHUST et al. IN THERAPEUTIC ADVANCES IN RARE DISEASES
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Spectrum

The perils of parachute research

Scientists who study autism in lower-income countries are working to end practices that exploit or ignore collaborators and communities on the ground.

By Linda Nordling
6 June 2024 | 11 min read
Research video of a zebrafish larva (zoomed in on the gut) being given glucose.
Spectrum

On the periphery: Thinking ‘outside the brain’ offers new ideas about autism

Neuronal alterations outside the brain may help to explain a host of the condition’s characteristic traits, including sensory changes, gut problems and motor differences.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
13 April 2023 | 20 min read
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World map color-coded to visualize the impact of autism across the world, estimating the disability-adjusted life years by nation.

Functional connectivity; ASDQ screen; health burden of autism

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 6 January.

By Jill Adams
7 January 2025 | 2 min read
Research image of a mossy fiber terminal in the cerebellar granule cell layer.

Cerebellar SHANK3; telehealth coaching for caregivers; psychedelics

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the last two weeks of December.

By Jill Adams
2 January 2025 | 2 min read
An illustration of a magnifying glass, checklists, and anonymous figures.

Spectrum 2024: Year in review

We round up our most notable autism stories of the past 12 months.

By Daisy Yuhas
23 December 2024 | 2 min read

Assembloids illuminate circuit-level changes linked to autism, neurodevelopment

These complex combinations of organoids afford a closer look at how gene alterations affect certain brain networks.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
19 December 2024 | 0 min watch
Research image of mouse neurons.

DDX3X gene function; gender diversity; lithium

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 16 December.

By Jill Adams
17 December 2024 | 2 min read

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David Krakauer reflects on the foundations and future of complexity science

In his book “The Complex World,” Krakauer explores how complexity science developed, from its early roots to the four pillars that now define it—entropy, evolution, dynamics and computation.

By Paul Middlebrooks
14 January 2025 | 106 min listen
Three sleeping mice.

Fleeting sleep interruptions may help brain reset

Brief, seconds-long microarousals during deep sleep “ride on the wave” of locus coeruleus activity in mice and correlate with periods of waste clearing and memory consolidation, new research suggests.

By Shaena Montanari
13 January 2025 | 5 min read
Multiple people look together at a whiteboard in a lab.

Why practical summer courses in neuroscience matter

Among other reasons, this tradition helps researchers rekindle the unfettered joy that initially brought them to the field.

By John Tuthill
13 January 2025 | 7 min read