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social group for adults with autism
Isaiah Seibert/Side Effects Public Media

How One Group Builds Friendships Among Adults With Autism

There’s an endless stream of advice online about how to make friends as an adult. The listicles and blog posts often mention that it’s harder for twentysomethings to form meaningful friendships. Making friends can be even harder if you’re on the autism spectrum, especially if you don’t live in a major city. But one group is trying to build those connections in rural America.

Jae C. Hong/AP

ENCORE: Special Sponge For Oil Spill Cleanup; Rural Digital Divide; Sickle-Cell Disease Gene Editing; Virtual Medical Translators

All this week, we're revisiting some of our favorite science and technology conversations. Scientists at Argonne National Labs created a sponge that’s being used to clean up oil spills off on the Pacific coast. Plus, there are millions of rural households still don’t have high-speed internet, which can make life harder for those in the farming business. And, for tens of thousands of Americans, living with sickle-cell disease can be excruciatingly painful and even deadly. But gene therapy advancements have given a handful of patients hope for a symptom-free life — and even a cure. Also, companies have brought virtual translators directly to patients getting medical treatment whose first language isn't English.

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