In recent months, a growing amount of news and attention recently has revolved around a medication, known as leucovorin, a folate-based medication discussed as a potential treatment for children with autism. Leucovorin (folinic acid) is not a new or controversial drug in itself. It’s widely used in clinical settings, most notably to reduce the toxic …
Continue reading Why Leucovorin Is Gaining Attention in Autism—and What We Still Don’t Know
A new study published in Nature Genetics (2025) has identified four distinct subtypes of autism, each differentiated by their own set of unique challenges and associated with specific genetic variations. According to co-lead author of the paper Natalie Sauerwald, “For families navigating autism, understanding their child’s specific subtype can provide greater clarity and open the …
Continue reading New Insights: Four Subtypes of Autism Revealed by Recent Study
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the world’s largest funder of scientific research, supporting the majority of the biomedical research going on in the United States. In 2023 alone, the NIH spent more than $35 billion on almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 institutions. Unfortunately, this lifeline …
Continue reading Impact of NIH Funding Cuts on Biomedical Research
Artificial intelligence innovations have taken our society by storm. AI can be used for a variety of things. It can help you craft a title for your paper. It can also give you a recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookies. But now, researchers are exploring using AI to diagnose individuals with autism. My Initial …
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Throughout this academic journey, I haven’t really done much research nor have put much thought into nutrition and how it affects autism characteristics and the other way around. There has been past research that autism has strong associations with behaviors like food selectivity and therefore, inadequate nutritional intake. Fear Response and Food Refusal Most research …
Continue reading Impact of Nutrition on Autism: Understanding Dietary Effects
An article written by Gabriele Barrocas for the Vanderbilt Vanguard Neurodiversity refers to the diversity of human minds due to the infinite differences in neurocognitive functioning within individuals in society. We are all considered neurodiverse in that we all require different demands when it comes to productivity and sociability. However, neurodiverse tends to refer to …
Continue reading Understanding Sexuality in Neurodiverse Populations
Madge Woollard, an autistic pianist, said, “A lot of us autistic people don’t really fit in socially, and I think this extends to ideas around gender.” As unlikely as it may sound, there is some evidence that individuals with autism are more likely than others to experience gender dysphoria, or distress related to gender incongruence. …
Continue reading Why are Gender Identity Conflicts More Common in Individuals with ASD?
According to the CDC, about 1 in 100 children have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder globally. Autism is diagnosed in all socioeconomic and ethnic groups and makes up about 1% of the world’s population. However, a dominating factor calls this statistic into question: cultural differences throughout the world. In a scientific article published in …
Continue reading The Effect of Cultural Differences on Autism Diagnosis
For the past several months, yoga has been a great way for me to cope with stressors, whether that be feeling anxious about a test, worrying about girl drama, or simply just going to work on myself emotionally and physically. I take an hour out of my day to unplug and be mindful about myself …
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The Nature vs. Nurture Debate Nature vs nurture has been a debate for centuries, even going back to the medieval French. As Francis Galton stated in 1874, “[nature vs. nurture] is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed. Nature is all that …
Continue reading Exploring Nature vs Nurture in Autism Research