Dementia usually is considered a disease of the elderly, but Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia are detected in many who are younger than 65, and early diagnosis of the disorders can be elusive, a leading specialist on dementias told a recent Capitol Hill briefing hosted by AAAS.

The language and cognitive difficulties often seen in autism may be caused in part by an overly connected frontal lobe within the brain, says a new study of children published in Science Translational Medicine.

The research points to a gene called CNTNAP2 as responsible for wiring neurons in the front of the brain. If carrying different versions of CNTNAP2 is found to be a consistent predictor of language difficulties, the findings may help researchers design targeted therapies to assist the brain toward a path of more normative development early on.