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Tonight sees the launch of Touch, Kiefer Sutherland's show about a father whose non-neurotypical son turns out to be able to predict future events. This comes on the heels of Alphas, which also gave us Gary, another person who appears to be on the autism spectrum but who has the ability to see hidden energies. And the notion of autistic people as savants or special fixers has been around forever. More »
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For the first time in seventeen years, the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (D.S.M.) is undergoing a significant revision. One of the mental conditions facing major emendations in its D.S.M. definition is autism. If the changes go through, a recent analysis suggests that the rate of official diagnosis for autism, and related disorders like Asperger syndrome, could plummet. And that, some people worry, could be bad news for those marginalized by the new diagnostic criteria. More »
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Navigating the uncertain terrain of the dating world can be tough for just about anyone, but it is often especially challenging for people with autism spectrum disorders, who typically suffer from impaired social skills that can make establishing strong interpersonal connections difficult. More »
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Humans evolving into hyper-intelligent beings is a powerful idea in science fiction, but that's probably where the idea will have to stay. Our brains have reached an evolutionary "sweet spot", and we can't get much smarter without making major trade-offs. More »
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In search of cures for autism, scientists have often used mice as a model. Some of the rodents display behaviors typical of human autism, and researchers use these mice as test subjects for experimental treatments. But now a group of researchers has figured out how to genetically engineer autistic mice, which could bring us closer than ever to understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying the condition. New Scientist reports: More »
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Autism takes a heavy toll on families — autistic teens are more likely to be bullied, and families with autistic kids are likelier to have lower incomes. But now at last, we're starting to learn more about what causes autism. More »
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Spotting Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at an early age is invaluable for treatment. The first symptoms of the disorder usually manifest when children are two, and there is often a significant delay between when parents spot the signs and when they tell their doctor. But a new paper published in the Journal of Pediatrics proposes a simple, five-minute checklist that parents could run through with their one-year-olds, to identify ASD early. More »
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British doctor Andrew Wakefield already lost his medical license over his faulty research linking vaccines and autism, but now a new report says his 1998 paper, published in the Lancet, was actually fraudulent. More »
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British researchers have identified up to 300 genes that cause autism, and they hope to have mapped all the genes responsible for the condition within two years. And they believe that eventually, all newborn children could be tested for autism. More »
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A federal court ruled over the weekend that a formerly common additive in vaccines does not cause autism. So will that be enough to prevent a new era of deadly but preventable epidemics? More »
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Most studies of autism link it to genetics. The condition is often referred to as the "geek syndrome" because some studies have shown a high incidence of autism in areas like California's Silicon Valley, where highly technical people are having children together. Scientific studies have backed up the idea that autism is genetic, identifying several genes that seem implicated in the disorder. Now a new study has revealed that many of the genes associated with autism are — luckily — ones whose functioning can be modified in early childhood. Autism genes are associated with early learning and are essentially designed to be reprogrammed — so, given the right learning environment, children born with autism could rewire their brains and be spared the worst effects of this disorder. More »
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Some autistics are known as "autistic savants" because they develop a genius in one subject, such as mathematics or art. New research shows this syndrome can be induced by tinkering with one protein in the brain which is responsible for building synapses, the brain structures that help neurons talk to each other. Neuroscientists at MIT (pictured) bred rats that lacked this protein, known as Shank1, and discovered the creatures could do spacial learning an extremely rapid clip, though they showed other signs of severe autism. These neuroscientists' work could go in two directions: curing some kinds of autism, and inducing selective superintelligence. More »
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Need to finish that work project, and wish you had the mental intensity to do it? Just take a synapse-regulating inhibitor, induce temporary autism, and you'll want to ignore your friends and do nothing but number-crunching for days. Autism-inducers could become as popular as Provigil among the geek set by 2020. Last night, in fact, a group German researchers announced they'd perfected the method for inducing autism. (They can also cure it.) More »
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