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Air pollution is just one of the issues that researches take issue with when studying the environmental factors that might lead to autism. A recent study exploring air pollution in neighborhoods near highways confirms what many have speculated for years. Follow the link to learn more.

More and more findings are showing that autism is not just a neurological disorder but one that affects more areas of the body than first suspected. Findings in the gut and the immune system have also been noted. Teams of neuroscientists, toxicologists and other professionals are combing over findings in many areas including food allergies, abnormal placenta growth and inflamed brain tissue to come with viable medications that may assist in aiding autism.

Sean Christine and Michael Atkins, postdoctoral candidates at Brown recently lead a research team that discovered some beneficial information regarding the Fragile X granule. Mutation of the Fragile X protein leads can lead to mental retardation and autism. Concentrating on the Fragile X granule and further understaning the synapse may lead to medicines to assist.

The 58th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in Philadelphia Pennsylvania began on November 11th and will run through November 15th. The annual conference brings together some of the world's top scientists in the field of human genetics. A number of the presentations at the conference will provide information about genome wide association studies and their role in causes of genetic conditions.

Scientists furthering their study on mice have noted a significant finding in communication abilities of mice. In their study of a group of genetically identical mice, they observed abnormal social interactions and deficits in communication which of course are heavily associated with autism.

Having been discovered almost a century ago, scientists now have a better, more defined understanding of the star shaped cells in the brain known as astrocytes. For a very long time, many in the scientific community discounted their existence, labeling them as 'bit players' but now, neuroscientists believe that these are MAJOR players and when not operating at their maximum potential can possibly trigger mental disoders such as autism.

Computer scientist Tom Mitchell, and cognitive neuroscientist Marcel Just of Carnegie Mellon University are working on a research project that demonstrates how specific thoughts activate our brains. "We believe we have identified a number of the basic building blocks that the brain uses to represent meaning," said Mitchell. "Coupled with computational methods that capture the meaning of a word by how it is used in text files, these building blocks can be assembled to predict neural activation patterns for any concrete noun.