Every couple of months, it seems, a human genetic study fingers yet another variant that’s associated with autism. It’s only a matter of time before scientists put many of these candidates through the next step in translational research: studying how the variant changes a mouse’s behavior or brain circuitry.
This approach assumes, of course, that a given variant would work the same way in mice as it does in humans. But the biology of mice and men may not be as similar as everyone has thought.
Read more at…
There’s no denying that, in the past two decades, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has revolutionized neuroscience. Its colorful, fine-resolution pictures allow scientists to compare patterns of activity in different brain regions during specific tasks.
Do children with autism have unusually large brains?
Here’s a quick mental exercise: look away from the keyboard and ask yourself, where are the keys you press to type your first name?
People with autism have trouble recognizing facial expressions and judging the emotional tone of spoken words — or at least, that’s what many researchers say. But some studies have found that 
