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Lead author Dr Rodrigo Suárez from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute and School of Biomedical Sciences, said the finding could lead to a better understanding of brain patterns linked to neurodevelopmental conditions like autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

“Marsupials are mammals born at extremely early stages — the equivalent to mid-gestation in human terms,” Dr Suárez said.

“Most marsupial brain development happens postnatally, inside the mothers’ pouch.

“Because of this, we’ve been able to study patterns of neural activity in the Australian native fat-tailed dunnart and found they’re similar to those in the human brain in utero.”

The research used light indicators to record the electrical activity of neurons in marsupial joeys.

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