Out of all of the brain chemistry that autism researchers study, few molecules have received as much attention as the so-called “social hormone” oxytocin. Some autistic children appear to have low levels of oxytocin in their blood, which prompted several teams to test oxytocin, which is given intranasally as autism therapy. To date, however, such […]
Illustration by Laurène Boglio Hello and welcome to this week’s community newsletter! I am your host, Chelsey B. Coombs, the engagement editor of Spectrum. A new article in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders caused a big stir on Twitter this week. “Rising prevalence, the shift in costs that are dominated from child to […]
Difficulty navigating social interactions permeates even the earliest accounts of autism. This defining characteristic of the disease has influenced the prevailing theories about its roots as well as the design of many autism treatments. But a new work area supports a more nuanced view of the social skills of autistic people. Proponents of an idea […]
Autism research has long focused on genes involved in the formation of neurons and the function of synapses. Mutations in these genes were the first to be firmly linked to the disease and its characteristics. Over the past decade, however, several studies have implicated a second class of genes: those involved in remodeling chromatin – […]
