Educational Science

Do Girls Have 'Protection' from Autism? (Op-Ed)

Alycia Halladay, chief science officer for the Autism Science Foundation, contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. For years, scientists have reported a higher autism prevalence in males than in females. But do girls actually hold the key to future breakthroughs in autism research? Most studies...

Why Vaccine Myths Persist: Trump Team References Debunked Autism Link

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, told reporters on Jan. 10 that President-elect Donald Trump asked him to chair a commission on vaccine safety, CNN reported. While Trump's team denied making the specific request that Kennedy referenced, a spokeswoman said that Trump is considering forming a commission on autism,...

The falsehood that vaccines cause autism has regained traction since the election of President Donald Trump, and this misinformation may leave Americans blind to a real risk: a loss of health and learning services for people with autism that will result from the coming changes in health care and cuts...

Ignore the Bad Advice — All Kids Need Autism Screening (Op-Ed)

Alycia Halladay is the chief science officer of the Autism Science Foundation. She contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Universal screening for autism improves the lives of kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disorders. This practice needs to continue uninterrupted, despite a...

Autism Truths and Myths: The State of the Science (Op-Ed)

Francesca Happé is president of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) and director of the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London. She contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Autism is everywhere....

Autism: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatments

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects a person's ability to communicate, interact and behave appropriately with others in social situations. Approximately 1 in 68 children in the United States has autism, and the condition is about five times more common in boys than in girls, according to...

Child Prodigies and Autism: Is There a Genetic Link?

Child prodigies may share certain genetic traits with people who have autism, new research suggests. The finding could help explain why the two groups share certain characteristics, such as exceptionally good memories. But the small number of child prodigies studied makes the findings preliminary, other scientists said. In the study,...

Autism Risk Linked to High Folate Levels in Pregnancy

Pregnant women who get too much folic acid may be more likely to have a child with autism, a new study suggests. The researchers found that new mothers in the study who had very high levels of folate in their blood (greater than 59 nanomoles per liter) shortly after giving...

How Brain Scans in Infants May Predict Autism

Brain scans of infants as young as 6 months old may be able to predict whether a child will develop autism, a new study suggests. In the study, researchers found that infants who later developed autism had higher amounts of cerebrospinal fluid — the clear liquid that cushions the brain...

Autism Risk Linked to Obesity, Diabetes Combination in Moms

Children born to women with obesity and diabetes may have an increased risk of autism, a new study suggests. The children in the study who were born to women who were obese before becoming pregnant were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with autism by age 6, compared with...