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

    Hospital admissions show the opioid crisis affects kids, too

    Opioid-related hospitalizations for children are up, a sad statistic that shows the opioid epidemic doesn’t just affect adults.

  2. Neuroscience

    Brain waves may focus attention and keep information flowing

    Not just by-products of busy nerve cells, brain waves may be key to how the brain operates.

  3. Neuroscience

    The debate over how long our brains keep making new nerve cells heats up

    Adult humans don’t have newborn nerve cells in a memory-related part of the brain, a controversial paper suggests.

  4. Health & Medicine

    When it comes to baby’s growth, early pregnancy weight may matter more than later gains

    Women’s weight before and during the first half of pregnancy may be most important indicators of baby’s birth weight.

  5. Neuroscience

    Some flu strains can make mice forgetful

    Mice infected with influenza had memory problems a month later, a result that hints at a link between infections and brain performance.

  6. Health & Medicine

    A new study eases fears of a link between autism and prenatal ultrasounds

    On almost every measure, prenatal ultrasounds doesn’t appear to be related to a risk of developing autism, a recent study finds.

  7. Neuroscience

    Watch nerve cells being born in the brains of living mice

    For the first time, scientists have seen nerve cells being born in the brains of adult mice.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Babies’ kicks in the womb are good for their bones

    A new study adds to the evidence that fetal workouts are important for strong bodies.

  9. Neuroscience

    Somewhere in the brain is a storage device for memories

    New technology and new ideas spur the hunt for the physical basis of memory.

  10. Neuroscience

    Cilia in the brain may be busier than previously thought

    A hairlike appendage sticking out of brain cells may be much more important in the brain than scientists realized.

  11. Neuroscience

    Protein helps old blood age the brains of young mice

    Increased levels of one protein in old blood may contribute to its aging effects on the brain, a mouse study suggests.

  12. Health & Medicine

    The science behind kids’ belief in Santa

    Children’s belief in Santa is strong — until it isn’t anymore, usually at around age 8.