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. Neuroscience

    Scans suggest how the mind solves ethical dilemmas

    Brain scans suggest how the mind solves a moral dilemma.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Telling kids lies may teach them to lie

    In a new study, kids who were told a lie were more likely to later tell a fib themselves. The results should encourage parents not to lie to their kids.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Sugar doesn’t make kids hyper, and other parenting myths

    There’s no shortage of advice out there for parents, but some pearls of wisdom simply aren’t true.

  4. Neuroscience

    Pianists learn better by playing

    Pianists’ muscle memory helped them recognize incorrect notes.

  5. Neuroscience

    Brain chemicals help worms live long and prosper

    Serotonin and dopamine accompany long lives in C. elegans worms under caloric restriction.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Overheard, baby edition: Making sense of new words

    Eavesdropping babies learn new words when they understand familiar ones.

  7. Neuroscience

    Music doesn’t move some people

    One study offers a glimpse into those who find no enjoyment in tunes.

  8. Neuroscience

    Brain uses decision-making region to tell blue from green

    Language and early visual areas of the brain are not crucial for distinguishing colors, an fMRI study suggests.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Should you hush that white noise?

    Some sleep machines can pump out a dangerous amount of noise, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be used safely.

  10. Neuroscience

    Girls may require more mutations than boys to develop autism

    New results may help explain why more males wind up with autism.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Brush kids’ teeth with just a little fluoride toothpaste

    The American Dental Association has released new brushing guidelines for infants.

  12. Neuroscience

    Like people, dogs have brain areas that respond to voices

    MRI study may help explain how pups understand human communication.