Laura Sanders

Laura Sanders

Senior Writer, Neuroscience

Laura Sanders reports on neuroscience for Science News. She wrote Growth Curve, a blog about the science of raising kids, from 2013 to 2019 and continues to write about child development and parenting from time to time. She earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she studied the nerve cells that compel a fruit fly to perform a dazzling mating dance. Convinced that she was missing some exciting science somewhere, Laura turned her eye toward writing about brains in all shapes and forms. She holds undergraduate degrees in creative writing and biology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where she was a National Merit Scholar. Growth Curve, her 2012 series on consciousness and her 2013 article on the dearth of psychiatric drugs have received awards recognizing editorial excellence.

All Stories by Laura Sanders

  1. Health & Medicine

    Epileptic seizures may scramble memories during sleep

    Overnight seizures seemed to muddle memories in people with epilepsy.

  2. Health & Medicine

    A single sweaty workout may boost some people’s memory

    Memory improvements after a short bout of exercise mirrored those seen after months of training.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Signs of new nerve cells spotted in adult brains

    A study finds new evidence that adult brains grow new nerve cells, even the brain of an octogenarian.

  4. Health & Medicine

    A new ketamine-based antidepressant raises hope — and questions

    Little is known about the long-term effects on people of a newly approved antidepressant based on the anesthetic ketamine.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Flickers and buzzes sweep mouse brains of Alzheimer’s plaques

    Precisely timed clicking noises can counter signs of Alzheimer’s in the brains of mice and improve memory.

  6. Health & Medicine

    FDA has approved the first ketamine-based antidepressant

    A nasal spray with a ketamine-based drug promises faster relief from depression for some people.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Ripples race in the brain as memories are recalled

    A fast brain wave called a ripple often came before a person’s correct answer on a memory test.

  8. Neuroscience

    How singing mice belt out duets

    A precise timing system in the brain helps musical rodents from the cloud forests of Costa Rica sing to one another.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Watching hours of TV is tied to verbal memory decline in older people

    The more television people age 50 and up watched, the worse they recalled a list of words in tests years later, a study finds.

  10. Health & Medicine

    The FDA says don’t buy young plasma therapies. Here’s why

    Infusions of plasma from young people may hold the secret of youth, but there’s not much evidence to support the idea yet.

  11. Neuroscience

    Brain cells combine place and taste to make food maps

    A select group of brain cells responds to both flavor and location, a specialty that may help an animal find the next good meal.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Brain-zapping implants that fight depression are inching closer to reality

    Researchers are using electric jolts to correct the faulty brain activity that sparks depression.