ASHG 2021

Recent articles

Many mouths making conversation, with speech bubbles in red and blue.

Community Newsletter: Twitter dispatches from the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting

In this week’s Community Newsletter, we highlight online conversations about the conference’s technology foibles and scientific tours de force.

By Spectrum
24 October 2021 | 4 min read
Illustration: a 3D DNA molecule sits on a gridded background, with yellow paper rays arrayed around it.

Subset of autism cases linked to mutations in noncoding genome

Autism involves mutations in noncoding portions of the genome in at least 3 percent of people with the condition. The mutations occur in regions that help regulate known autism-linked genes.

By Laura Dattaro
20 October 2021 | 3 min read

Autism-linked genetic variants increase, decrease intelligence

Common and rare variants in or near autism-associated genes can have opposite effects on cognition.

By Laura Dattaro
19 October 2021 | 0 min watch

Explore more from The Transmitter

Barbara Finlay looking at a glass jar with a brain.

Remembering Barbara Finlay, ‘maverick’ of evolutionary neuroscience

Finlay, who died on 12 September, championed the idea that developmental constraints dictate how evolution sculpts brains, a concept she used to model the timing of hundreds of events and align them across mammalian species.

By Calli McMurray
23 October 2026 | 8 min read
A crow looking at a screen showing a circle of white dots on a black background.

Crows have brains ‘in the fast lane’

The birds accurately complete decision-making tasks twice as fast as primates, although their endbrains look considerably different.

By Sarah Thau
22 October 2026 | 4 min read
A boy manipulates blocks at a table while sitting across from a woman taking notes.

Prevalence of profound autism declines with new definition

The updated, more precise definition used in a CDC study includes adaptive scores.

By Brianna Abbott
22 October 2026 | 5 min read