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

    Anesthesia for youngsters is a tricky calculation

    Scientists, doctors and parents face uncertainty when it comes to anesthesia for babies.

  2. Humans

    Transgender children are at greater risk of mental health problems

    The Trump administration has rescinded federal protections for transgender kids in public schools, a move that the American Academy of Pediatrics condemns.

  3. Health & Medicine

    A preschooler’s bubbly personality may rub off on friends

    Scientists caught personality shifts in preschoolers over a year by observing play.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Birth may not be a major microbe delivery event for babies

    A study of mother-baby duos suggests that birth itself may not be the main event for getting microbes in and on babies.

  5. Neuroscience

    Mysteries of time still stump scientists

    The new book "Why Time Flies" is an exploration of how the body perceives time.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Little jet-setters get jet lag too

    Help young children fight jet lag with a few simple steps.

  7. Health & Medicine

    A ban on screens in bedrooms may save kids’ sleep

    Screens are associated with worse sleep in kids, and not just because of their lights and noises.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Motherhood might actually improve memory

    Having a baby changes all sorts of things, including a mother’s brain.

  9. Neuroscience

    Pregnancy linked to long-term changes in mom’s brain

    Pregnancy can sculpt a mother’s brain in a way that may help her tune in to her baby.

  10. Neuroscience

    Year in review: Alzheimer’s drug may clarify disease’s origins

    Researchers will now test whether a treatment that swept away amyloid brain plaques also improves cognitive performance.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Number of teens who report doing drugs falls in 2016

    Drug use is down among teens, survey finds.

  12. Neuroscience

    Brain waves show promise against Alzheimer’s protein in mice

    Flickers of light induce brain waves that wash amyloid-beta out of the brain, mouse study suggests.