There is some evidence that neural habituation — the process by which neurons get used to sensory stimuli — goes awry in autism. Mutant fish may help us understand the sensory sensitivities that often accompany the disorder, says Alan Packer.

A rat study bolsters the ‘intense world theory’ of autism, and the stats around CRISPR will astound you.

Among babies who go on to receive a diagnosis of autism at age 2, alterations in brain structures forecast the severity of repetitive behaviors. The preliminary results were presented Saturday at the 2015 International Meeting for Autism Research in Salt Lake City, Utah.  
 

Uneven wiring in the brain’s motor circuitry predicts movement difficulties in children with autism, according to unpublished research presented yesterday at the 2015 International Meeting for Autism Research in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A new microscopy technique creates colorful three-dimensional images of brain activity in awake mice.

An overabundance of neuronal connections in the brains of people with autism may contribute to the motor impairments associated with the disorder.
 

For 2014, rather than compile the ‘top tools and techniques’ — a list certain to include CRISPR and other technical tricks detailed in our weekly Toolboxes — we asked researchers to dream up the next big tool in autism research. Their wishes range from protein sequencers to scanners that can capture brain activity during daily activities.

A customized microscope with moveable arms lets researchers simultaneously watch neurons fire in two areas of a mouse brain.
 

A transparent sensor crafted from thin sheets of carbon allows researchers to record brain activity in mice, reports a paper published 20 October in Nature Communications.

Scientists reflect on the current state of autism research as the 2014 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C. comes to a close.