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. Math

    Baseball by the numbers

    A new study evaluates the success of statistical analyses in determining the player with the golden glove.

  2. Math

    Cable boxes identify bargain and lemon commercial slots

    Analysts get a closer look at television viewing habits with second-by-second data.

  3. Life

    Fish feel the flow

    New model explains how fish rely on their lateral lines to read wakes.

  4. Venom hunters

    Scientists probe toxins, revealing the healing powers of biochemical weapons.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Creating fat that burns calories

    Researchers find a way to make energy-using brown fat from skin cells.

  6. Life

    Beetle masters optics

    Researchers may gain inspiration from the shell of Chrysina gloriosa, which twists light in a particular way.

  7. Life

    Sleeping ugly

    Analysis pinpoints genes that help springtails dehydrate and tough out the winter.

  8. Physics

    Raindrops go it alone

    A new study using a high-speed camera finds the shattering of solitary drips can produce a variety of sizes.

  9. Life

    Old gene, short new trick

    A single genetic modification is linked to the stature of short-legged dog breeds, new research shows.

  10. Computing

    Random numbers faster

    Researchers have devised a way to use a laser to create strings of orderless bits for encryption.

  11. Humans

    “%&#$!” makes you feel better

    Study finds that swearing may alleviate pain.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Schizophrenia risk gets more complex

    Three studies find that large collections of variants, rather than just a few key mutations, probably predispose someone to schizophrenia.