Laura Sanders

Neuroscience, Senior Writer, Science News

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. Brain

    Lying sets up a liar’s brain to lie more

    As people lie more, activity in one brain region falls, a new study finds. It’s an area associated with emotion.

  2. Brain

    Pain is contagious — at least in mice

    Pain can move from one mouse to another. The trigger may be smell.

  3. Brain

    Out-of-whack body clock causes more than sleepiness

    When the body’s “clock” doesn’t match the cues its getting from outside, people can feel bad. Researchers are using math to explain this “circadian-time sickness.”

  4. Brain

    Mice brains hint at how bodies keep their cool

    Nerve cells in mice can keep the body cool and may prevent high fevers. The discovery could have implications for obesity and other health issues.

  5. Health & Medicine

    To remember something new: Exercise!

    People who exercised strenuously for a half hour after learning something new cemented those memories. But the trick: Wait four hours before getting the heart pumping vigorously.

  6. Brain

    Left brain stands guard during sleepovers

    Part of the left half of the brain remains on alert while the rest of the brain and body snooze.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Scientists link Zika to nerve disease

    The Zika virus is spreading in the Americas. There has also been an uptick in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Scientists think the two are linked.

  8. Brain

    Early intro to sign language has lasting benefits

    Children introduced to sign language as babies performed better on mental-processing tasks at age 12 — and as adults — than did people who learned sign language at age 3.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Behavior of genes could identify type of infection

    The behavior of hundreds of genes can identify a viral infection, a new study finds. That could help doctors determine treatment for a sick patient.

  10. Environment

    Brain damage seen in potent-marijuana smokers

    Brain scans of people smoking potent forms of pot showed abnormalities in white matter. Studies have not yet looked to see if these changes are also linked with changes in memory, risk of depression or other types of harm.

  11. Life

    Scientists discover itch-busting cells

    A study in mice finds the body has a special way of dealing with an itch that’s caused by a light touch. The results could lead to treatments for chronic itch.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Nobel goes for developing drugs from nature

    The 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine went to scientists who used nature as the model for important human drugs to combat malaria and serious infections.