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This issue of Nature puts a spotlight on autism spectrum disorder and tries to sort fact from fiction in this often contentious field. Topics covered include the mysterious increase in the incidence of diagnosed autism; some of the myths that have accumulated around the condition; and the notion that, for some fields of endeavour (science is often mentioned), autism can be advantageous. Cover credit: Daren Newman.
The week in science: United States cancels UNESCO funding; proton-smashing ends for the year at the Large Hadron Collider; and Britain's Royal Society opens up its journal archive.
As a huge European observatory nears approval, a National Science Foundation funding competition between equivalent US projects remains in a holding pattern.
Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen thinks scientists and engineers could be more likely to have a child with autism. Some researchers say the proof isn't there.
Science writer Margaret Wertheim's latest book focuses on 'outsider physicists' — fringe theorists who probe the cosmos in their own way. On its publication, to be accompanied by a December exhibition at the newly opened Institute For Figuring gallery in Los Angeles, Wertheim explains her fascination with those who explore beyond the textbooks.
The collapse of the Maya civilization is often attributed to drought, but is the explanation really as simple as that? On the basis of evidence from their respective fields, an archaeologist and a palaeoclimatologist call for a more nuanced assessment.
Grid cells confer a spatial impression of an animal's environment on the brain. Their firing patterns in a cave-dwelling bat reopen old questions about how they do this, and pose some compelling new ones. See Letter p.103
Diamond-based quantum computers could potentially operate at room temperature with optical interfacing, but their construction is challenging. Silicon carbide, used widely in electronics, may provide a solution. See Letter p.84
Caspase-1 is one of the main culprits behind sepsis, a form of systemic inflammation. The related enzyme caspase-11 is also involved, but the relative roles of the two proteins have been confusing, until now. See Letter p.117
A recent surge in the intensity of tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea has brought unprecedented damage and loss of life. Anthropogenic air pollution might be increasing the destructiveness of these storms. See Letter p.94
Little is known about mammalian evolution in South America during the age of the dinosaurs. The discovery of 100-million-year-old skulls confirms that mammalian faunas were endemic in southern continents at this time. See Letter p.98