According to the Boston Globe, scientists are trying a new approach to study and observe autistic brain by using special paddles against patients' head and creating a magnetic field that triggers brain cell activity. Known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, this approach allows for scientists to spark activity in specific areas of the brain and watch what happens to the patients' behavior. The technology may illuminate some of the biology behind the disease, and some specialists speculate it may one day offer a treatment for many neurological disorders.

"There's a lot of mystery about autism - it's not as if there's a well-understood story of what's going on at all, and there's a huge variety of autism, too," said John Gabrieli, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Transcranial magnetic stimulation "is fantastic for identifying brain regions that are essential for specific mental functions. . . . I think if we can start to use it more systematically with autism, one could hope we'd understand a lot more about what's going on."

Learn more about the studies here.

Posted by Jay Roberts at 07:48 PM | Permalink