Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Moving target: The drug arbaclofen did not make a significant dent in the primary endpoint of two new clinical trials for autism, but it improved some other aspects of the condition. andreaobzerova / Adobe Stock Autistic children and teenagers who took the investigational drug arbaclofen fared no better than controls on a rating of social…

Background noise: An autism-linked mutation can have significantly different effects when hosted in organoids grown from cells of autistic people versus those made from cells of neurotypical people. Courtesy of Shuai Fu et al. / The American Journal of Human Genetics An autism-linked mutation disrupts the development of clusters of brain cells, or brain organoids,…

Brendan Fraser has been winning all of the awards this year for his starring performance in The Whale. But this week he was recognized for something that he says is just as important to him. On Wednesday, May 3, at the Greenwich International Film Festival’s Inaugural GIFF Inspiration Talk & Award Ceremony, he received an…

Research associate professor, San Diego State University For more than a decade, Ruth Carper has noticed a troubling pattern in the neuroimaging literature on autism: Every review article seems to say that scientists don’t know much about older autistic adults. Some studies have identified differences between autistic and non-autistic adults, but typically at only a…

Welcome back: This year’s annual meeting of INSAR will be the society’s first 100 percent in-person gathering since 2019. Westend61 / Adobe Stock This week, autism researchers from around the globe are convening in Stockholm, Sweden, for the first fully in-person meeting of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) since 2019. As they head…

Prolific protein: Every tissue in an embryonic mouse expresses KMT5B. Genes involved in axonal guidance and other key pathways are expressed differently in people with mutations in the autism-linked gene KMT5B, according to a new study. KMT5B codes for an enzyme that adds methyl group tags to histones, the protein component of chromosomes. The chemical…

BLUFFTON — When Sophia Townes took her son, Jack, for his 12-month check-up, the pediatrician expressed concern because he had not yet spoken his first word, nor was he babbling or pointing. At his 18-month check-up, Jack was still silent. So he began occupational, speech and physical therapy. At his three-year check-up, he still had no…

I’ve been saying for a long time now that when it comes to antivaccine misinformation among COVID-19 antivaxxers, everything old is new again in antivax. Whether it’s claiming that COVID-19 vaccines sterilize our womenfolk, contain “fetal cells,” cause cancer, are resulting in global “depopulation,” are loaded with “toxins,” cause Alzheimer’s disease, permanently alter your DNA,…

As a conventional family doctor, I had many times felt helpless when attempting to assist patients with chronic illness. To see the continued suffering of patients and not have enough tools to make a significant difference, despite years of medical training, was frustrating and in need of correction. Nowhere was this felt as intensely as…

Home therapy: Parents deliver the intervention, in which they practice behaviors with their children that prioritize social communication and emotional regulation. Seventyfour / Adobe Stock Autistic toddlers who receive a personalized intervention at about 18 months of age show greater gains in expressive language, social communication and daily living skills than do autistic children who…