2011 Science News of the Year: Body & Brain

CHAD SHAW, BRIAN DAWSON, YASUNARI SAKAI, H. ZOGHBI

Sifting through autism’s tangled web

Each person with an autism spectrum disorder has a different disease, yet some commonalities exist, a flurry of studies reveals (SN: 8/13/11, p. 20). Though the finds don’t point to a clear cause or a cure, they inch researchers closer to a deeper understanding of the baffling disorders.