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

    High-potency pot smokers show brain-fiber damage

    People who smoke potent pot had signs of damage in a brain communication link.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Virus spread by mosquitoes linked to rare birth defect

    In addition to fever, rash and vomiting, Zika virus may cause rare birth defect.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Pregnancy hormone could keep multiple sclerosis at bay

    A small trial hints that pregnancy hormone can reduce MS flare-ups.

  4. Neuroscience

    Taste is all in your head

    By targeting certain nerve cells in a mouse’s brain, scientists made plain water turn bitter or sweet.

  5. Health & Medicine

    When selenium is scarce, brain battles testes for it

    In competition for selenium, testes draw the nutrient away from the brain.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Blood-brain barrier jiggled loose to deliver medicine

    Using ultrasounds, doctors attempted to slip a chemotherapy drug into a woman’s brain through the blood-brain barrier.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Blood-brain barrier jiggled loose to deliver medicine

    Using ultrasounds, doctors attempted to slip a chemotherapy drug into a woman’s brain through the blood-brain barrier.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Antibodies to fight Alzheimer’s may have unexpected consequences

    Alzheimer’s-targeted antibodies make neurons misbehave even more, a study of mice shows.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Young babies live in a world unto themselves

    Young babies don’t let information from the outside throw off their touch perception, a finding that has clues for how babies experience the world.

  10. Neuroscience

    Brain’s GPS cells map time and distance, not just location

    Brain’s GPS cells map time and distance, too.

  11. Neuroscience

    Blood exerts a powerful influence on the brain

    Instead of just responding to the energy needs of neurons, the blood can have a direct and powerful influence on the brain.

  12. Neuroscience

    Itch-busting nerve cells could block urge to scratch

    A group of nerve cells in the spinal cord keep mechanical itch in check.