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

    Drug restores lost hearing

    Loud noises can damage sensitive inner ear cells called hair cells, which in mammals don’t grow back.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Long space missions may be hazardous to your sleep

    Crew on simulated Mars trip moved less and slept more during 520-day project.

  3. You really can learn while you sleep

    Brain stays busy during lights-out.

  4. Prions may cause Alzheimer’s

    Similarity found with destructive protein behind mad cow.

  5. Neuroscience

    Your social brain

    Nerve cells notice mistakes and learn from others’ desires.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Brain stimulation alters depressive symptoms in mice

    The findings may point the way toward more targeted treatments for depression in people.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Drug breaks up Alzheimer’s-like deposits in mice

    Recent failed trials of a similar approach in humans fuel skepticism that patients will benefit.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Simulated brain mimics human quirks

    Model representing 2.5 million neurons performs calculations, issues instructions for a behavior, and then expands its decision into action.

  9. Fly guy

    Brian Brown can discover a new kind of fly anywhere. He often takes up the search in exotic locales such as New Zealand, Chile or Taiwan, but he’s not picky. Once, he was challenged to find a new species in a Los Angeles backyard. After setting a trap and waiting, he pulled out a winner: […]

  10. Neuroscience

    Study gives a jolt to brain researchers seeking to understand face blindness

  11. Health & Medicine

    Protein’s destructive journey in brain may cause Parkinson’s

    Clumps of alpha-synuclein move through dopamine-producing cells, mouse study finds.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Infant stress linked to teen brain changes

    Girls, but not boys, showed later changes in brain regions that regulate emotions.