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. Physics

    Molecule turns red at breaking point

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

  2. Life

    Cattle genome sequenced

    Researchers unlock the DNA of M-O-O.

  3. Physics

    Nanoclusters seem to skirt physics law

    In simulations, tiny loophole allows colliding nanoclusters to increase speed after impact.

  4. Tech

    Cloaked eye still sees

    Researchers have proposed a model that would allow sensors to send and receive information virtually undetected.

  5. Specialis Revelio!

    It’s not magic, it’s neuroscience.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Touch and sight push each other around

    When the fingers feel downward motion, the eyes see upward motion.

  7. Life

    Primate vision puts pieces together

    Study suggests nerve cells in retinas create an intricate system of interlocking receptive fields.

  8. Life

    Cells renew in the human heart

    Carbon 14 from Cold War–era nuclear bomb tests allowed researchers to track cell birth.

  9. Physics

    Spin control for technology

    Long-lived helix offers a new way to keep electron spin stable and in sync

  10. Life

    Louse-y genome surprise

    Blood-sucking body lice have an odd arrangement of mitochondrial genes.

  11. Health & Medicine

    How herpes re-rears its ugly head

    Researchers identify a key player in the reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 1.

  12. Physics

    Never mind the Pollock ‘fractals’

    Scientists strengthen claim that fractal analysis is moot.