Autism may be missed in girls

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Do any researchers study the physiological issues, rather than observe behavior?

You miss the point, so I'll rephrase:

Girls tend to blend in better, because the autistic or aspergers traits are very close to what is thought of as being 'girly' and 'normal' anyway. For example, because I'm so literal-minded, I take everything people say to heart. I don't imagine people say things they don't mean - I'm fine these days and will pick up on it generally (still have my moments!), but as a child I never did. But people just thought I was being sensitive, which is a 'female' characteristic. I was always very quiet and a bit nerdy when I was young, with major fixations and obsessions, but people just thought I was 'shy', again, a 'girly' trait. It wasn't the case at all though - I simply didn't understand how to fit in or how to socialise and communicate with my peers, so I stopped trying, because the bullying and laughter became too much.

In short, a lot of autistic/aspergers traits are ones that can manifest in a very similar way to what is thought of as the female 'norm', and when you add to that the female tendency to be social creatures and adults see the little aspie girl trying to fit in and talk to her peers, they assume she mustn't have Aspergers as people with autism 'don't want to make friends'. This means the diagnosis is missed and the true problems we need help with are overlooked because, although I can assure you it's every bit as strong and as difficult as it is in boys and it's certainly not easy in any way, it's more subtle. We try and hide it a lot more, and are in general more successful at that hiding, than boys - at least from my observations.