Autism News

January 16, 2026

Top Headlines

Scientists Discover Why Mental Disorders so Often Overlap

Jan. 3, 2026 A massive global genetics study is reshaping how we understand mental illness—and why diagnoses so often pile up. By analyzing genetic data from more than six million people, researchers uncovered deep genetic connections across 14 psychiatric ...

A Massive Scientific Review Put Alternative Autism Therapies to the Test

Dec. 28, 2025 A major new review has put hundreds of alternative autism treatments under the microscope—and most didn’t hold up. Scientists analyzed decades of research and found little reliable evidence that popular approaches like probiotics, acupuncture, ...

Scientists Rewired Down Syndrome Brain Circuits by Restoring a Missing Molecule

Dec. 17, 2025 A missing brain molecule may be disrupting neural wiring in Down syndrome, according to new research. Replacing it in adult mice rewired brain circuits and improved brain flexibility, challenging the ...

Scientists Find Hidden Layers in Brain’s Memory Center

Dec. 6, 2025 Scientists uncovered a surprising four-layer structure hidden inside the hippocampal CA1 region, one of the brain’s major centers for memory, navigation, and emotion. Using advanced RNA imaging techniques, the team mapped more than 330,000 genetic ...

Scientists Find Hidden Brain Nutrient Drop That May Fuel Anxiety

Dec. 4, 2025 Researchers found that people with anxiety disorders consistently show lower choline levels in key brain regions that regulate thinking and emotions. This biochemical difference may help explain why the brain reacts more intensely to stress in ...

New Brain Imaging Breakthrough Reveals Clues to Parkinson’s

Dec. 1, 2025 A high-speed “zap-and-freeze” method is giving scientists their clearest view yet of how brain cells send messages. By freezing tissue at the instant a signal fires, researchers revealed how synaptic vesicles behave in both mouse and human ...

Resetting the Body’s Rhythm Could Protect the Brain from Alzheimer’s

Nov. 1, 2025 Researchers discovered that altering the body’s natural rhythm can help protect the brain from Alzheimer’s damage. By turning off a circadian protein in mice, they raised NAD+ levels and reduced harmful tau buildup. The findings suggest that ...

Your DNA May Shape How You Use Cannabis

Oct. 20, 2025 A major collaboration between UC San Diego and 23andMe identified genes that shape cannabis use behaviors. The study linked the CADM2 and GRM3 genes to cannabis use and connected these patterns to more than 100 traits across mental and physical ...

Strong Friendships May Literally Slow Aging at the Cellular Level

Oct. 5, 2025 Scientists discovered that lifelong social support can slow biological aging. Using DNA-based “epigenetic clocks,” they found that people with richer, more sustained relationships showed younger biological profiles and lower inflammation. The ...

Junk Food Can Scramble Memory in Just 4 Days

Sep. 29, 2025 Scientists discovered that high-fat junk food disrupts memory circuits in the brain almost immediately. Within just four days, neurons in the hippocampus became overactive, impairing memory. Restoring glucose calmed the neurons, showing that ...

Autism May Be the Price of Human Intelligence

Sep. 28, 2025 Researchers discovered that autism’s prevalence may be linked to human brain evolution. Specific neurons in the outer brain evolved rapidly, and autism-linked genes changed under natural selection. These shifts may have slowed brain development in ...

Brain Fat, Not Just Plaques, May Be the Hidden Driver of Alzheimer’s

Sep. 24, 2025 For decades, scientists believed Alzheimer’s was driven mainly by sticky protein plaques and tangles in the brain. Now Purdue researchers have revealed a hidden culprit: fat. They found that brain immune cells can become clogged with fat, leaving ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:33am EST

A Massive Gene Hunt Reveals How Brain Cells Are Made

Jan. 11, 2026 A large genetic screen has revealed how stem cells transform into brain cells, exposing hundreds of genes that make this process possible. Among the discoveries is PEDS1, a gene now linked to a ...

Japanese Scientists Just Built Human Brain Circuits in the Lab

Jan. 7, 2026 Researchers in Japan built a miniature human brain circuit using fused stem-cell–derived organoids, allowing them to watch the thalamus and cortex interact in real time. They found that the ...

The Brain Has a Hidden Language and Scientists Just Found It

Dec. 29, 2025 Researchers have created a protein that can detect the faint chemical signals neurons receive from other brain cells. By tracking glutamate in real time, scientists can finally see how neurons ...

New Research Reveals How Everyday Cues Secretly Shape Your Habits

Dec. 10, 2025 Researchers uncovered how shifting levels of a brain protein called KCC2 can reshape the way cues become linked with rewards, sometimes making habits form more quickly or more powerfully than ...

Autism Symptoms Vanish in Mice After Stanford Brain Breakthrough

Sep. 8, 2025 Scientists at Stanford have found that hyperactivity in the brain’s reticular thalamic nucleus may drive autism-like behaviors. In mouse models, drugs and neuromodulation techniques that suppressed ...

Lithium Deficiency May Be the Hidden Spark Behind Alzheimer’s

Aug. 29, 2025 Harvard scientists have uncovered that lithium, a naturally occurring element in the brain, may be the missing piece in understanding Alzheimer’s. Their decade-long research shows that lithium ...

Johns Hopkins Scientists Grow a Mini Human Brain That Lights Up and Connects Like the Real Thing

Aug. 4, 2025 Scientists at Johns Hopkins have grown a first-of-its-kind organoid mimicking an entire human brain, complete with rudimentary blood vessels and ...

Alzheimer’s Risk May Start at the Brain’s Border, Not Inside It

Aug. 4, 2025 Your brain has its own elite defense team — and new research shows these "guardian" cells might be the real battleground for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and stroke. Scientists ...

This Brain Circuit May Explain Fluctuating Sensations—and Autism

July 30, 2025 Sometimes a gentle touch feels sharp and distinct, other times it fades into the background. This inconsistency isn’t just mood—it’s biology. Scientists found that the thalamus doesn’t just ...

Four Hidden Types of Autism Revealed — and Each Tells a Different Genetic Story

July 24, 2025 Scientists at Princeton and the Simons Foundation have identified four biologically distinct subtypes of autism, using data from over 5,000 children ...

Can’t Sleep, Can’t Focus, Can’t Thrive? ADHD and Insomnia May Be a Vicious Cycle

July 16, 2025 Struggling to sleep might be the hidden reason why adults with ADHD traits often feel less satisfied with life. New research reveals a strong link between insomnia and reduced well-being in people ...

Scientists Just Found a Sugar Switch That Protects Your Brain from Alzheimer's

June 30, 2025 Scientists have uncovered a surprising sugar-related mechanism inside brain cells that could transform how we fight Alzheimer’s and other dementias. It turns out neurons don’t just store sugar ...

The Gene That Hijacks Fear: How PTEN Rewires the Brain’s Anxiety Circuit

June 29, 2025 Deleting a gene called PTEN in certain brain cells disrupts the brain’s fear circuitry and triggers anxiety-like behavior in mice — key traits seen in autism. Researchers mapped how this genetic ...

Iron Overload: The Hidden Culprit Behind Early Alzheimer’s in Down Syndrome

June 20, 2025 USC researchers have uncovered a hidden driver behind the early and severe onset of Alzheimer's in people with Down syndrome: iron overload in the brain. Their study revealed that individuals ...

CRISPR-Edited Stem Cells Reveal Hidden Causes of Autism

June 14, 2025 A team at Kobe University has created a game-changing resource for autism research: 63 mouse embryonic stem cell lines, each carrying a genetic mutation strongly associated with the disorder. By ...

Sugar Shield Restored: The Breakthrough Reversing Brain Aging and Memory Loss

June 13, 2025 A protective sugar coating on brain blood vessels, once thought to be insignificant, turns out to play a vital role in preventing cognitive decline. Restoring this layer reversed damage and memory ...

Sustained in the Brain: How Lasting Emotions Arise from Brief Stimuli, in Humans and Mice

May 29, 2025 Humans and mice share persistent brain-activity patterns in response to adverse sensory experience, scientists find, opening a window to our emotions and, perhaps, neuropsychiatric ...

Overlooked Cells Might Explain the Human Brain's Huge Storage Capacity

May 27, 2025 Researchers have a new hypothesis for how brain cells called astrocytes might contribute to memory storage in the brain. Their model, known as dense associative memory, would help explain the ...

Overimitation Begins in Infancy but Is Not Yet Linked to in-Group Preference

May 22, 2025 A new study examines the emergence of overimitation in infants aged between 16 and 21 months to see if and how it is linked to social affiliation and other forms of imitation. The researchers found ...

AI Is Here to Stay, Let Students Embrace the Technology, Experts Urge

May 22, 2025 A new study says students appear to be using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) responsibly, and as a way to speed up tasks, not just boost their ...

Potential New Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease, Other Neurodegenerative Conditions

May 22, 2025 Worldwide, more than 55 million people suffer from dementia caused by Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other conditions that destroy cells in the brain and nervous system. While there is no ...

Tiny Genetic Switch Found to Control Brain Balance and Behavior

May 22, 2025 Researchers have identified a remarkably small but critical piece of genetic code that helps determine how brain cells connect, communicate, and function. The discovery not only deepens our ...

Scientists Design Gene Delivery Systems for Cells in the Brain and Spinal Cord

May 21, 2025 Research teams have created a versatile set of gene delivery systems that can reach different neural cell types in the human brain and spinal cord with exceptional accuracy. These delivery systems ...

How Molecules Can 'Remember' and Contribute to Memory and Learning

May 20, 2025 Researchers have discovered how an ion channel in the brain's neurons has a kind of 'molecular memory', which contributes to the formation and preservation of lifelong memories. The ...

Marfan Syndrome Increases Risk of Brain Alterations

May 15, 2025 A study reveals that inflammation associated with Marfan syndrome increases vulnerability to neurological diseases and complications following strokes, as demonstrated in animal ...

Study Sheds Light on How Autistic People Communicate

May 14, 2025 There is no significant difference in the effectiveness of how autistic and non-autistic people communicate, according to a new study, challenging the stereotype that autistic people struggle to ...

Postpartum Depression and Bonding: Long-Term Effects on School-Age Children

May 14, 2025 Postpartum maternal mental health and mother-to-infant bonding are well-established as critical factors in a child's psychosocial development. However, few studies have explored the combined ...

Hormone Cycles Shape the Structure and Function of Key Memory Regions in the Brain

May 13, 2025 Hormone levels fluctuate like the tides, ebbing and flowing according to carefully orchestrated cycles. These hormones not only influence the body, but can cross into the brain and shape the behavior ...

CAR-T Cell Therapy for Cancer Causes 'Brain Fog,' Study Shows

May 12, 2025 Cancer treatment with a cell-based immunotherapy causes mild cognitive impairment, a Stanford Medicine team found. They also identified compounds that could treat ...

How Individuals Grasp an Object May Offer Simpler Diagnosis for Autism Spectrum Disorder

May 5, 2025 Getting a timely diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is a major challenge, but new research shows that how young adults, and potentially children, grasp objects could offer a simpler way to ...