WHY IT MATTERS: Christopher Walsh, chief of genetics at Children's Hospital Boston, says the study represents the first use of a genetic technique that may ultimately help researchers identify risk factors for autism.
Wikipedia Repetitively stacking or lining objects may indicate autism
Research involving large Middle Eastern families, sophisticated genetic analysis and groundbreaking neuroscience has implicated a half-dozen new genes in autism.
The study strongly supports the emerging idea that autism stems from disruptions in the brain's ability to form new connections in response to experience – consistent with autism's onset during the first year of life, when many of these connections are normally made.
Source:
Audio excerpt from the weekly podcast of the journal Science
