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. Genetics

    Hints about schizophrenia emerge from genetic study

    From thousands of genomes, researchers pinpoint dozens of DNA changes that may underlie schizophrenia

  2. Neuroscience

    Obese women struggle to learn food associations

    In a lab experiment, women fail to connect color signal with tasty reward, a deficit that may contribute to obesity.

  3. Neuroscience

    Electrode turns consciousness on and off

    Woman lost awareness, though appeared awake, when her brain was stimulated near an area called the claustrum.

  4. Neuroscience

    Heavy marijuana use may affect dopamine response

    People who regularly smoke five joints a day had dampened reactions to the chemical messenger dopamine.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Giving kids a spoonful of medicine: not what the doctor ordered

    It’s frustratingly easy to give your kid the wrong dose of medicine.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Babies are kinder after you dance with them

    Babies who grooved in sync with an adult were more likely to be little helpers later.

  7. Neuroscience

    Autism may carry a benefit: a buffer against Alzheimer’s

    Brain plasticity of people with autism may protect them from Alzheimer’s disease, scientists propose.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Kids’ me time may boost brainpower

    Unstructured play may give kids more opportunity to exercise their executive function, complex cognitive function that includes resisting impulses and paying attention.

  9. Neuroscience

    Alzheimer’s disease may come in distinct forms

    Mouse experiments, if confirmed in people, imply that Alzheimer’s disease treatment should be personalized.

  10. Neuroscience

    Busy brain hubs go awry in disorders, study suggests

    Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders may occur when the brain’s most active hubs are damaged.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Your baby can watch movies for science

    Any parent with a computer can let their kid participate in child development studies through a new website called Lookit.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Pregnant women on the hook for calculating risks, benefits of fish

    New draft FDA guidelines on fish for pregnant or nursing women make women do the math for how to maximize omega-3 fatty acids and minimize mercury exposure.