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. Neuroscience

    Nerve cells from people with autism grow unusually big and fast

    In some forms of autism, nerve cells develop faster than normal, possibly setting the stage for the disorder, a study finds.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Probiotics don’t help puking kids, two large trials suggest

    Parents might want to spend their money on ginger ale and Jell-O instead.

  3. Neuroscience

    The battle over new nerve cells in adult brains intensifies

    It’s not yet time to abandon the idea that adult human brains make new nerve cells.

  4. Neuroscience

    Big data reveals hints of how, when and where mental disorders start

    The first wave of data from the PsychENCODE project holds new clues to how and when psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia emerge.

  5. Neuroscience

    Here’s a rare way that an Alzheimer’s protein can spread

    Amyloid-beta found in vials of growth hormone can move from brain to brain, a mouse study shows.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Many babies are crummy sleepers, confirming what millions of parents already know

    A new survey suggests that lots and lots of babies aren’t sleeping through the night. The results may prompt new parents to lower their expectations.

  7. Neuroscience

    The uterus may play a role in memory

    In lab tests, rats that underwent hysterectomies had worse spatial memories.

  8. Neuroscience

    Zaps to a certain spot in the brain may ease depression

    When implanted electrodes stimulated a brain region just behind the eyes, people’s spirits were raised immediately.

  9. Neuroscience

    Brain implants let paralyzed people use tablets to send texts and stream music

    People with paralysis could control commercially available tablets with their brain activity, researchers show.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Don’t spank your kids. Do time-outs and positive talk instead, pediatricians say

    A pediatrician group recommends against spanking children — ever — and points instead to positive reinforcement and time-outs to cool off.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Small doses of peanut protein can turn allergies around

    After a year of careful peanut protein exposure, most kids in a clinical trial could tolerate the equivalent of two large peanuts.

  12. Neuroscience

    Marijuana may change the decision-making part of teen brains

    A marijuana-like drug given to male rats during adolescence changed the structure of their brains.