Biological motion

Recent articles

Brain activity patterns may distinguish girls with autism

Atypical patterns of neuronal activity and gene expression in the striatum may characterize autism in girls, according to a new study.

By Angie Voyles Askham
2 June 2021 | 4 min read
Child hesitating in front of a giant eye showing areas of the brain, facial recognition and other connections related to sight.

Seeing connections between autism and blindness

Autism is unusually common among people with congenital blindness, in part because the ability to see drives much of brain development.

By Rubin Jure
12 November 2019 | 6 min read

What Ehlers-Danlos syndrome can teach us about autism

Not much is known about the connection between autism and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition that affects collagen. But preliminary work provides tantalizing clues.

By Emily Casanova
21 October 2019 | 6 min read
Man's face with eyes looking left.

People’s affinity for social cues is inherited, study suggests

Genetics may govern a person's ability to pay attention to social cues.

By Jessica Wright
22 April 2019 | 4 min read

Quantitative tests of motor skills could improve autism care

New assessments of the subtle motor difficulties that characterize autism could improve autistic children's lives and teach us a lot about the condition.

By Rujuta Bhatt Wilson
2 April 2019 | 6 min read
baby reaching for toy

Motor traits that mark autism remain elusive, large study finds

Motor problems in autistic infants may parallel those in infants with other developmental conditions.

By Hannah Furfaro
18 March 2019 | 4 min read

Oversold diets; big brains explained; tracking CRISPR and more

Benefits of diets for autism features remain unproven, variants of the same DNA region make brains big or small, and STAT announces a new CRISPR tracker.

By Emily Willingham
8 June 2018 | 4 min read

‘Syntax’ of mouse behavior may speak volumes about autism

An algorithm that decodes and quantifies mouse body language could reveal the brain circuits underlying certain autism features.

By Hannah Furfaro
21 March 2018 | 6 min read
Genes may partly account for difficulties in processing biological motion.

Movement perception, autism traits may share genetic roots

The ability to identify human-like movements is rooted in genetics — and may share those origins with autism traits.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
19 February 2018 | 5 min read

Prenatal microbiome; standing by stereotypes; Common Rule delay and more

Microbiologists debate the existence of bacteria in the womb, yet another movie relies on stereotypes to portray a person with autism, and the U.S. federal government delays implementation of the Common Rule for clinical research.

By Emily Willingham
2 February 2018 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Cognitive neuroscientist Nick Turk-Browne helps an infant into an fMRI machine.

What infant fMRI is revealing about the developing mind

Cognitive neuroscientists have finally clocked how to perform task-based functional MRI experiments in awake babies—long known for their inability to lie still or take direction. Next, they aim to watch cognition take shape and settle a debate about our earliest memories—with one group publishing a big clue today.

By Calli McMurray
20 March 2025 | 12 min read
A mouse sits on a gloved hand.

Molecular changes after MECP2 loss may drive Rett syndrome traits

Knocking out the gene in adult mice triggered up- and down-regulated expression of myriad genes weeks before there were changes in neuronal function.

By Chloe Williams
20 March 2025 | 5 min read
A group of scientists discusses in a lab.

Learning scientific rigor: Q&A with Konrad Kording and Hao Ye

The developers of a new open-access curriculum to teach rigor discuss confirmation bias and other common errors in scientific thinking, plus ways to avoid these missteps.

By Calli McMurray
19 March 2025 | 6 min read