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

    Early exposure to signing helps deaf kids on mental task

    Deaf kids exposed to sign language from birth performed better on a task that required attention and impulse control.

  2. Health & Medicine

    The best advice on Zika virus and pregnancy is to know the unknowns

    There are some practical steps pregnant women and women who want to be pregnant can take to minimize risk of Zika virus infection.

  3. Neuroscience

    Cancer drug’s usefulness against Alzheimer’s disputed

    A preliminary report questions the anti-Alzheimer’s activity of a cancer-fighting drug.

  4. Neuroscience

    Mouse study offers clues to brain’s response to concussions

    The brain needs time to recover between head hits, a study in mice suggests.

  5. Neuroscience

    Immune system gene leads to schizophrenia clue

    Excessive snipping of nerve cell connections may contribute to schizophrenia.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Monkeys with human gene show signs of autism

    Genetically altered monkeys may help scientists understand autism.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Noisy toys mute conversations

    Electronic toys put a damper on the conversations between parents and babies.

  8. Neuroscience

    Measuring brain waves may help predict a patient’s response to anesthesia

    Brain signatures hint at whether a person will resist or succumb to anesthesia.

  9. Neuroscience

    Pain produces memory gain

    Searing pain can burn memories into the brain.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Young infants have perceptual superpowers

    Babies have superpowers that let them see and hear things that adults can’t.

  11. Neuroscience

    Shrub cells are true to form

    New cell types discovered in the brains of mice

  12. Health & Medicine

    Gene behavior distinguishes viral from bacterial infections

    Researchers have identified signatures of viral infection, a distinction that may help doctors tell whether bacteria or a virus is causing trouble.