People with autism are at high risk of death from injury, China starts a clinical trial involving human embryonic stem cells, and individuals with autism have trouble seeing faces in food.

Children missing a stretch of DNA on chromosome 16 show worsening motor and social skills in the first eight years of life; those with an extra copy of the region do not show this decline.

Mutations in a gene called TRIP12 — which is involved in tagging proteins for destruction — can lead to intellectual disability, language delay and autism.

In children with a deletion on chromosome 22, having autism does not boost the risk of developing schizophrenia later in life.

An analysis of whole genomes from more than 5,000 people has unearthed 18 new candidate genes for autism.

Most adults with genetic variants tied to certain conditions, such as heart disease or cancer, go undiagnosed.

DNA deletions and duplications tied to autism crop up in people without the condition, too.

Large autism-linked mutations tend to be inherited in families with a history of the condition. By contrast, they often arise spontaneously in families with a single affected person.

Mutations in certain newly evolved stretches of the genome may play a role in autism, although some experts are skeptical of this theory.

A tie between first-trimester ultrasounds and autism severity is tenuous at best, misnamed genes litter the literature, and neuroscientists enjoy their version of summer camp.