A rare condition marked by a sudden and profound loss of skills is biologically distinct from other forms of autism.

A doctor decodes a rare genetic condition, burnout is a big problem in science, and an actor with autism will play the lead in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”

The absence of an autism-linked gene, combined with exposure to a mock infection, produces social deficits in mice — but only in males.

Mice have long been the mainstay of autism research, but a small group of scientists say rats are the superior choice. Rats are bigger, smarter, friendlier — and a lot more fun.

Researchers have engineered two new rats with mutations in a family of genes that function at neuronal junctions, they reported today at the 2014 International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

Mice with an extra copy of the autism risk gene UBE3A have cognitive deficits and anxiety, but do not show any core features of the condition.

Mice with either too little or too much MeCP2, the gene mutated in Rett syndrome, show similar malfunctions in a learning and memory circuit.

The brain’s memory center, the hippocampus, may provide clues to features of autism as disparate as personal relationships and decision-making.

Researchers have charted gene expression in the brains of rhesus macaques from before birth into adulthood.

Mice with a mutation in CHD8, the top autism gene, show no signs of any of the condition’s core features.