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. Science & Society

    Autism’s journey from shadows to light

    Science writer Steve Silberman considers autism in the modern era of neurodiversity - a movement to respect neurological differences as natural human variation - framing the relatively progressive autistic experience of today against the the conditions oppressed past.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Death by brain-eating amoeba is an inside job

    Immune response to brain-eating amoeba may be the real killer.

  3. Neuroscience

    How screams shatter the brain

    The acoustical properties of screams make them hard to ignore, a new study suggests.

  4. Neuroscience

    How screams shatter the brain

    The acoustical properties of screams make them hard to ignore, a new study suggests.

  5. Health & Medicine

    In children, a sense of time starts early

    Minutes, hours, days and years start to take on new meaning as children acquire a deeper concept of time.

  6. Neuroscience

    ‘Speed cells’ found in rats’ brains

    Newly discovered “speed cells” clock rats’ swiftness.

  7. Neuroscience

    How the brain perceives time

    To perceive time, the brain relies on internal clocks that precisely orchestrate movement, sensing, memories and learning.

  8. Neuroscience

    Sugar makes mice sleepy

    A new study reveals how a sugary meal can lead to slumber.

  9. Neuroscience

    Wrinkled brain mimics crumpled paper

    Brains crumple up just like wads of paper, a new study suggests.

  10. Neuroscience

    Old fruit flies’ swagger restored with brain chemical dopamine

    Replenishing the chemical communicator dopamine to a handful of nerve cells makes old flies feel frisky again.

  11. Neuroscience

    Pain may come in his and hers

    Males and females rely on different kinds of cells to carry pain signals, a mouse study suggests.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Should you eat your baby’s placenta?

    More women are choosing to eat their baby’s placenta after giving birth, but the evidence for benefits isn’t there yet.