Differences in mitochondrial function are a major factor in understanding the origins of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), according to a new study led by Douglas Wallace, PhD, director of the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, that points way back to genetic vulnerabilities accumulated during ancient human migrations.
Fitness tools that monitor your daily use of energy, from counting steps to tracking sleep, have exploded in popularity. Researchers are developing better noninvasive, high-resolution methods to estimate how well the fundamental source of that energy - your mitochondria - are working, and they have recently had some important successes. Mitochondria are the tiny energy factories of our cells,