Itziar Barrios
Illustrator
From this contributor
Year in Review: Spectrum’s best in 2023
Here are five must-reads from our coverage of autism research over the past 12 months.
Letter to the editor: Researchers must bridge disconnect at ‘autism crossroads’
Two groups of researchers respond to Spectrum’s article about the power struggle among researchers, self-advocates and families, calling on their autistic and non-autistic colleagues to work collaboratively and promote equity in autism research.
Autism research at the crossroads
The power struggle between researchers, autistic self-advocates and parents is threatening progress across the field.
Explore more from The Transmitter
Parsing phenotypes in people with shared autism-linked variants; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 13 October.

Parsing phenotypes in people with shared autism-linked variants; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 13 October.
Ant olfactory neurons reveal new ‘transcriptional shield’ mechanism of gene regulation
A protective screen of spurious transcriptional activity enables each olfactory neuron to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.
Ant olfactory neurons reveal new ‘transcriptional shield’ mechanism of gene regulation
A protective screen of spurious transcriptional activity enables each olfactory neuron to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.
The visual system’s lingering mystery: Connecting neural activity and perception
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools. I asked 10 neuroscientists what experimental and conceptual methods they think we’re missing.

The visual system’s lingering mystery: Connecting neural activity and perception
Figuring out how the brain uses information from visual neurons may require new tools. I asked 10 neuroscientists what experimental and conceptual methods they think we’re missing.