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

    Origins of the swine flu virus

    Researchers use evolutionary history to trace the early days of the pandemic.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Stressed-out DNA turns mousy brown hair gray

    Scientists show how change happens when cells responsible for colorful hair lose their self-renewing abilities.

  3. Chemistry

    Protein caught in the act

    Researchers have developed a new way to see where the molecules are active.

  4. Physics

    Mechanical systems all tangled up

    Researchers link the motion of two ion pairs through “spooky action at a distance.”

  5. Health & Medicine

    Nicotine’s role in SIDS

    New study in rats explains how smoke exposure may increase risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

  6. Life

    Engineered DNA counts it out

    Scientists create a biological system that uses the genetic code to tally up molecular events.

  7. Chemistry

    Not your grandpa’s smoke signals

    A fuse dotted with chemicals offers a new way to code messages.

  8. Life

    Almost complete primate fossil described

    Ida provides details about life in the Eocene.

  9. Physics

    Europium’s superconductivity demonstrated

    A rare earth metal is the 53rd naturally occurring element to possess the property.

  10. Life

    It’s not their dirty mouths

    Komodo dragons kill prey with venom, not oral bacteria, study suggests.

  11. Tech

    Cheaper fuel cell catalyst

    New catalytic material may lead to more efficient fuel cells.

  12. Physics

    Molecule turns red at breaking point

    Materials made with a color-changing molecule may offer a red signal when under stress.