Audio long read: Autism is on the rise — what’s really behind the increase?

<p>In April,&nbsp;Robert F. Kennedy Jr&nbsp;held a press conference about rising diagnoses of autism, and&nbsp;said he would soon be announcing a study to find the responsible agent. Although Kennedy said that environmental factors are the main cause of autism, research has shown that genetics plays a bigger part.&nbsp;Also, the&nbsp;rise in prevalence, many researchers say, is </p><p>predominantly caused by an increase in diagnoses rather than a true rise in the underlying symptoms and traits.</p><br><p>Although the&nbsp;US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a US$50 million to fund studies on the causes of autism, many researchers were dismayed that these developments seemed to ignore decades of work on the well-documented rise in diagnoses and on causes of the developmental condition.</p><br><p>This is an audio version of our Feature:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02636-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Autism is on the rise&nbsp;— wha...