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

    Brain scans give clues to how teens handle pandemic stress

    A study that followed hundreds of teenagers during the COVID-19 pandemic may explain why some people succumb to stress while others are more resilient.

  2. Neuroscience

    In a Jedi-like feat, rats can move a digital object using just their brain

    In a new study, rats could imagine their way through a 3-D virtual world, hinting at how brains can think about places that they’re not physically in.

  3. Neuroscience

    What a look at more than 3,000 kinds of cells in the human brain tells us

    A wide-reaching look at the cells that build the brain, detailed in 21 studies, showcases the brain’s cellular diversity and clues about how it works.

  4. Health & Medicine

    How brain implants are treating depression

    This six-part series follows people whose lives have been changed by an experimental treatment called deep brain stimulation.

  5. Neuroscience

    Today’s depression treatments don’t help everyone

    In the second story in the series, deep brain stimulation is a last resort for some people with depression.

  6. Health & Medicine

    The science behind deep brain stimulation for depression

    The third part of the series explores the promising brain areas to target for deep brain stimulation for depression.

  7. Neuroscience

    What’s it like to live with deep brain stimulation for depression?

    The fourth article in the series explores the physical and emotional challenges of experimental brain implants for depression.

  8. Health & Medicine

    There’s a stigma around brain implants and other depression treatments

    The fifth article in the series asks why people are so uncomfortable with changing the brain.

  9. Neuroscience

    What’s the future of deep brain stimulation for depression?

    The final story of the series describes efforts to simplify and improve brain implants for severe depression.

  10. Health & Medicine

    The weight-loss drug Wegovy may also help treat addiction

    Recent studies in mice and rats suggest that semaglutide drugs, like Wegovy, can curb some addictions. Several human trials are underway.

  11. Health & Medicine

    New Alzheimer’s drugs are coming. Here’s what you need to know

    Several new drugs that target brain plaques slow mental decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease. But they are not for everyone, researchers caution.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Taurine slows aging in mice. Will it ever work for people?

    The amino acid taurine — found in meats, produced by the body and common in energy drinks — may have a role in health and aging, a new study suggests.