Japanese researchers push to commercialize 'happiness hormone' nasal spray drug for autism
A group of researchers in Japan is hoping to make available for use as a nasal spray a drug to improve symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. The group, led by Professor Hidenori Yamasue of Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, is conducting a clinical ...
No social skills required: Autistic staff help global IT consultancy thrive
From a British call center to an Alaskan satellite facility, Lars Backstrom has had a lot of jobs, but says he always felt like a hexagonal peg in a square hole — he just didn't fit in. That changed last year when the 55-year-old Swede ...
'Unruly' autistic Argentinian boy escapes mom to play with Pope Francis
A young Argentinian boy broke free of his mother's clutches to play with Pope Francis during a Vatican audience Wednesday, much to the pontiff's delight. "This boy cannot speak, he is mute," Francis told those gathered for his weekly general audience, after the boy's mother ...
Tokyo pageant celebrates beauty of people with mental and physical challenges
Fashion enthusiast Mana Yokoyama, wearing a light cream lace dress, strutted down the catwalk during a beauty pageant in Tokyo, hoping the experience would bring her a step closer to a fashion career. But while she's as determined as her nondisabled counterparts, the 24-year-old Yokoyama ...
'Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8': 'The Reason I Jump' author returns with new English collection
The accomplishments of Japanese poet, novelist and essayist Naoki Higashida are impressive. He's published more than 20 books in Japanese, pens a popular blog and is seeing the release this month of his second book in English — all before his 25th birthday in ...
Neuroscientists chart new gray matter map pinpointing key areas of cerebral cortex
Neuroscientists acting as cartographers of the human mind have devised the most comprehensive map ever made of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions such as abstract thought, language and memory. Using MRI images from the brains of 210 ...
Autism may not be confined to the brain
Thirteen-year-old Naoki Higashida describes his own personal feelings about having autism as follows: "I feel a deep envy of people who can know what their own minds are saying, and who have the power to act accordingly. My brain is always sending me off on ...
Despite skeptics, Navy backing autism-screening app, seeing PTSD links
The Navy is paying for research into an app to screen for autism in the hopes that it could eventually be tweaked to look for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. While developmental and trauma disorders might at first appear strange bedfellows, the researchers and a ...
Chinese scientists working on autism cure
Chinese scientists have created monkeys with a version of autism that could eventually help in the cure for this complex spectrum of brain disorders.
Autistic people find independence at unique facility in Saitama
Due to a dearth of job opportunities in Japan for autistic people, mainly deriving from a lack of understanding toward the disorder, it is often difficult for them to lead independent lives after they attain adulthood. However, an institution in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, is one ...
Beating life's challenges one artwork at a time
Artist Kengo Nawashiro, 26, loves drawing buildings and towers. His beautifully colored paintings of the Tokyo Skytree are printed on postcards and sold at art events. Nawashiro credits his success to renowned art educator Chieko Awata, who is a specialist in nurturing the talents ...
How Disney helped unlock the emotions of an autistic boy
In his book, "Life, Animated," Ron Suskind tells the remarkable story of how Disney movies unlocked his autistic son's emotions.
