Breakthrough as US researchers 'crack the autism code'

Researchers have developed a method for diagnosing autism which could spare families years of uncertainty and spur crucial earlier treatments. The new AI analysis can identify the genetic markers of autism via biological activity in the brain, they report, with 89 to 95 percent accuracy. This new method starts out with standard brain-mapping via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before re-analyzing those scans via AI to detect the movements of proteins, nutrients and other processes within the brain that may indicate autism. 'Autism is traditionally diagnosed behaviorally,' via a person's speech, for example, as the medical team behind the process noted. 'But [it] has a strong genetic basis.'