Autism News

April 18, 2024

Top Headlines

No Link Between Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children's Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability, Says Large Sibling Study

Apr. 9, 2024 — In the largest study to date on the subject, researchers found no evidence to support a causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and increased risk of autism, ADHD and intellectual ...

Two Key Brain Systems Are Central to Psychosis

Apr. 11, 2024 — When the brain has trouble filtering incoming information and predicting what's likely to happen, psychosis can result, research ...

Study Eases Concern at Antipsychotics Use in Pregnancy

Mar. 18, 2024 — The use of antipsychotics during pregnancy isn't linked to childhood neurodevelopmental disorders or learning difficulties, study suggests -- giving assurance to those concerned about continuing their medications during ...

Abnormal Brain Structure Identified in Children With Developmental Language Problems

Mar. 15, 2024 — A rigorous analysis of numerous studies concludes that a part of the brain traditionally associated with movement is abnormal in children with developmental language impairments. The discovery has ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:16pm EDT

Study Identifies New Metric for Diagnosing Autism

Apr. 17, 2024 — Autism spectrum disorder has yet to be linked to a single cause, due to the wide range of its symptoms and severity. However, a recent study suggests a promising new approach to finding answers, one ...

Synaptic Protein Change During Development Offers Clues on Evolution and Disease

Mar. 28, 2024 — An analysis of how synaptic proteins change during early development reveals differences between mice and marmosets but also what's different in ...

Study of Different Autism Types Finds Shared Mechanism That May Respond to Drugs

Mar. 27, 2024 — An analysis of how brains with different forms of autism develop has revealed common underlying mechanisms that may respond to existing ...

Parental Avoidance of Toxic Exposures Could Help Prevent Autism, ADHD in Children, New Study Shows

Mar. 28, 2024 — Researchers have found that parents with chemical intolerance are more likely to report children with autism and ...

Large-Scale Animal Study Links Brain pH Changes to Wide-Ranging Cognitive Issues

Mar. 26, 2024 — The International Brain pH Project Consortium unveils groundbreaking findings in a large-scale animal model study, indicating altered brain pH and ...

Shared Blueprint in Brain Development Across Different Functional Areas

Mar. 11, 2024 — Researchers have investigated brain development to understand how different areas of the brain become specialized in handling information such as vision, sound, touch and ...

COVID Vaccines Are Safe for Pregnant Women and Babies, Study Finds

Mar. 7, 2024 — The COVID vaccine is safe to administer during pregnancy, researchers report in an important finding on the safety of the vaccine in infants -- despite widespread fear and ...

Study Reveals Unexpected Literacy in Autistic People Who Cannot Speak

Mar. 6, 2024 — About one-third of autistic people are unable to communicate using speech, and most are never provided an effective alternative. However, a new study suggests that many of these individuals are ...

Smoking During Pregnancy May Increase the Risk of Behavioral Disorders in Newborns, Predicts AI

Mar. 5, 2024 — Although several studies have linked smoking during pregnancy with neurodevelopmental disorders, the results of behavioral experiments in mice ...

Early Vocabulary Size Is Genetically Linked to ADHD, Literacy, and Cognition

Mar. 1, 2024 — Are genetic factors underlying children's language development linked to later-life outcomes? In a genome-wide analysis, an international research ...

Study Sheds Light on How Neurotransmitter Receptors Transport Calcium

Feb. 29, 2024 — A new study is shedding light on our understanding of the molecular origins of some forms of autism and intellectual disability. Researchers were able to successfully capture atomic resolution images ...

Could We Assess Autism in Children With a Simple Eye Reflex Test?

Feb. 28, 2024 — Scientists may have discovered a new way to test for autism by measuring how children's eyes move when they turn their ...

Genomic 'Butterfly Effect' Explains Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Jan. 29, 2024 — Researchers examined the genetics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by analyzing mutations in the genomes of individuals and their families. They discovered that a special kind of genetic mutation ...

Blood Pressure Drug Can Reduce Anxiety for People With Autism, Study Shows

Jan. 23, 2024 — A new study has found that propranolol, a medication that treats high blood pressure, can also help lower anxiety for kids and young adults with autism spectrum disorder ...

How Does Social Attention Develop in Autistic Children?

Jan. 13, 2024 — As they grow, children increasingly focus their attention on social elements in their environment, such as faces or social interactions. However, children with autism are often more interested in ...

Putting Your Toddler in Front of the TV? You Might Hurt Their Ability to Process the World Around Them, New Data Suggests

Jan. 8, 2024 — Babies and toddlers exposed to television or video viewing may be more likely to exhibit atypical sensory behaviors, such as being disengaged and disinterested in activities, seeking more intense ...

Enlarged Spaces in Infant Brains Linked to Higher Risk of Autism, Sleep Problems

Jan. 2, 2024 — Researchers have found that enlarged perivascular spaces in the brains of babies, caused by an accumulation of excess cerebrospinal fluid, have a 2.2 times greater chance of developing autism later ...

Protein-Protein Interaction Discovery Unveils Down Syndrome's Molecular Mechanism Potential

Dec. 19, 2023 — Down syndrome, a congenital disorder stemming from abnormal cell division and differentiation, is most common in newborns fated to neurodevelopmental delays and other health complications. The ...

The Pedigree of Brain Cells

Dec. 13, 2023 — The superior colliculus in the mammalian brain takes on many important tasks by making sense of our environment. Any mistakes during the development of this brain region can lead to severe ...

Social Chatbots and Their Impact on Neurodiverse People

Dec. 11, 2023 — New research shows that social chatbots could be doing more harm than good for neurodiverse people, entrenching social isolation and reinforcing dysfunctional habits among many people with autism, ...

Glial Tone of Aggression

Dec. 5, 2023 — While anger and aggression are instinctive behaviors found across many species, leaving these emotions unchecked can lead to conflict and violence. In a recent study, researchers demonstrated that ...

Three Genes Associated With Neurodevelopmental Disorders Identified

Nov. 28, 2023 — Researchers have identified how three novel genes cause neurodevelopmental disorders. Researchers now have a better sense of the genes' roles in human brain development and function and their ...

Autism Brain States Hold the Key to Unlocking Childhood Memories, Findings Show

Nov. 9, 2023 — Neuroscientists have discovered a fascinating connection between the retention of early life memories and brain developmental trajectories associated with ...

People With Autism Less Likely to Succumb to Bystander Effect, Research Finds

Oct. 26, 2023 — A well-established psychological theory states that most of us are less likely to intervene in a bad situation if other people are present, and this 'bystander effect' also applies to ...

New Clues to Early Development of Schizophrenia

Oct. 24, 2023 — Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disease that remains poorly understood and treated. Schizophrenia onset is typically in adolescence or early adulthood, but its underlying causes are ...

Researchers Develop Technology to Tabulate and Characterize Every Cell in the Human Brain

Oct. 12, 2023 — By combining non-invasive imaging techniques, investigators have created a comprehensive cellular atlas of a region of the human brain known as Broca's ...

How Brain Inflammation in Children May Cause Neurological Disorders

Oct. 12, 2023 — Severe inflammation in early childhood is a clinically known risk factor for developing autism and schizophrenia. Now, scientists have discovered that inflammation alters the development ...

Discovery Reveals Fragile X Syndrome Begins Developing Even Before Birth

Oct. 10, 2023 — Fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited intellectual disability, may be unfolding in brain cells even before birth, despite typically going undiagnosed until age 3 or later. A new study ...

Protein P53 Regulates Learning, Memory, Sociability in Mice

Sep. 28, 2023 — Researchers have established the protein p53 as critical for regulating sociability, repetitive behavior, and hippocampus-related learning and memory in mice, illuminating the relationship between ...

'Circular Logic' of RNAs in Parkinson's Disease

Sep. 18, 2023 — Researchers are gaining new insights into neurological diseases by studying circular RNAs (circRNAs) in brain cells. A new study has identified over 11,000 distinct RNA circles that characterized ...