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 implants have revealed a signature for chronic pain

    Brain implants in four people with chronic pain gave researchers an inside look at the debilitating condition.

  2. Neuroscience

    Neuroscientists decoded people’s thoughts using brain scans

    The finding may lead to better communication aids for people who can’t communicate easily. It also raises privacy concerns.

  3. Health & Medicine

    A chemical imbalance doesn’t explain depression. So what does?

    The causes of depression are much more complex than the serotonin hypothesis suggests

  4. Health & Medicine

    2022 was the year long COVID couldn’t be ignored

    Long covid’s heavy toll grew clearer as millions of people reported lingering symptoms, and scientists and doctors looked for treatments.

  5. Neuroscience

    New brain implants ‘read’ words directly from people’s thoughts

    In the lab, brain implants can translate internal speech into external signals, technology that could help people who are unable to speak or type.

  6. Neuroscience

    Clumps of human nerve cells thrived in rat brains

    New results suggest that environment matters for the development of brain organoids, 3-D nerve cell clusters that grow and mimic the human brain.

  7. Neuroscience

    Why traumatic brain injuries raise the risk of a second, worse hit

    Recent hits to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa have reignited discussions of brain safety for professional football players. Brain experts weigh in.

  8. Neuroscience

    COVID-19 gave new urgency to the science of restoring smell

    With newfound pressure from the pandemic, olfactory training and a host of other newer treatments are now getting a lot more attention.

  9. Neuroscience

    An hour after pigs’ deaths, an artificial system restored cellular life

    Sensors, pumps and artificial fluid staved off tissue damage in pigs after cardiac arrest. The system may one day preserve organs for transplantation.

  10. Neuroscience

    Spinal stimulation gives some people with paralysis more freedom

    Methods that stimulate the spine with electrodes promise to improve the lives of people with spinal cord injuries, in ways that go well beyond walking.

  11. Dogs are great sniffers. A newfound nose-to-brain connection helps explain why

    A new anatomical description of how smell works in a dog brain shows why they’re such good sniffers.

  12. Health & Medicine

    5 misunderstandings of pregnancy biology that cloud the abortion debate

    The Supreme Court’s scrapping of Roe v. Wade shifts decisions about related health care to states. Accurate science is often missing in those talks.