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. Life

    Anxiety switch makes mice shy no more

    Brain-control experiments could help shed light on psychiatric disorders

  2. Health & Medicine

    How brains guesstimate

    Experiments show how the human mind lowballs moving objects’ speed when information is lacking.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Memories Can’t Wait

    Researchers rethink the role of amyloid in causing Alzheimer’s

  4. Health & Medicine

    Cell phones may affect brain metabolism

    Activity increases near phones pressed to users' ears, a new study finds.

  5. Humans

    Justifying research, basic or otherwise

    A neuroscience panel at the annual AAAS meeting is asked to weigh in on the value of curiosity-driven, versus applied, investigations

  6. Genetics

    Some genes like it hot

    Some regional DNA differences may be due to climate, global surveys suggest.

  7. Life

    How cuts can spur tumor growth

    Cancerous cells flock to wounds, a study in mice finds.

  8. Life

    Small part of brain itching for a fight

    A cluster of cells compels aggressive behavior in mice.

  9. Life

    Aerobic exercise boosts memory

    Regular walking improved seniors' recall and reversed declines in the size of a brain structure important for remembering.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Prosthetics that feel

    Re-creating a 'sense of touch' for prosthetic limbs may someday improve how people use them.

  11. Humans

    Intel Science Talent Search picks top 40

    High school researchers to present original work in Washington, D.C.

  12. Chemistry

    Why olive oil’s quality is in the cough

    An anti-inflammatory compound found in the best presses tickles taste sensors in the throat, a study finds.