The mutation that causes Rett syndrome may spark uncontrolled inflammation throughout the body and brain, suggests a study published last week. The findings may explain the syndrome’s wide range of symptoms, from seizures to gut problems.

An online catalog helps clarify the roles of thousands of spontaneous mutations in four neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism.

Two new studies give a boost to arbaclofen, which failed to meet expectations in clinical trials for autism and fragile X syndrome.

Clinicians saw autism signs in children with mutations in a cancer pathway long before sequencing studies made the connection, says Katherine Rauen.

Monkeys whose mothers are infected with a mock virus while pregnant show abnormal branching of certain brain cells. The findings may help explain why infection during a woman’s pregnancy ups the risk of autism in her children.

Newt Gingrich wants to double spending on medical research, and Chinese researchers highlight the hazards of editing human genomes.

Children born to women who develop diabetes during the first or second trimester of pregnancy increase their risk of autism by 42 percent.

Signals that relay sensations from nerves to the brain are abnormally strong in people with autism, a finding that may explain why some people with the disorder are overly sensitive to light, sound and touch.

A new method for labeling cell lines and checking their quality could improve the validity of study results.

Trials to test drugs for autism suffer from subjective measurements and placebo effects. Helen Tager-Flusberg outlines how to ferret out the true effects of potential autism therapies.