Brain scans can detect autism in children long before they display symptoms, a new study says, giving hope for the development of early testing and intervention methods. MRI scans of of 148 children at six, 12 and 24 months allowed scientists to detect brain surface differences in children who were eventually diagnosed with autism. Researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze the brain scan results and were able to predict an autism diagnosis with 80 percent accuracy. The study, led by researchers from the University of North Carolina, was published Wednesday in Nature. Currently, the earliest age doctors can diagnose autism in a child is at two years old.