Elizabeth Lucas


Elizabeth Lucas, Correspondent, specializes in data analysis and reporting for the KHN enterprise team. She came from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), where she spent four years training and supporting data journalists around the world as the NICAR Data Library director. Previously she worked as a data reporter on health and the environment for the Center for Public Integrity. She has a master’s degree from the Missouri School of Journalism.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of two cats jumping to opposite buildings in a city.

Is confidence a second thought—or part of the first one?

In some settings, neural circuits may calculate confidence in a decision simultaneously with the choice itself. That changes the types of questions researchers should ask.

By Ariel Zylberberg
5 October 2026 | 6 min read
Illustration of a plate with a cherry in front of a computer server.

What AI can learn from hunger

To enhance AI safety, take a lesson from biological brains; a small set of wants maintains durable control over a much larger cognitive system.

By Anthony Zador
5 October 2026 | 6 min read

New projectome captures ‘complex beast’ of serotonin system in mice

The whole-brain map—the first of its kind in a vertebrate—identifies five distinct neuron groups.

By Madeline Shaw
2 October 2026 | 0 min watch