Erik Vance


Erik Vance is a native Bay Area writer replanted in Mexico as a non-native species. Before becoming a writer, he was, at turns, a biologist, a rock-climbing guide, an environmental consultant and an environmental educator.

His work focuses on the human element of science — the people who do it, those who benefit from it and those who do not. He has written for The New York Times, Nature, Scientific American, Harper’s, National Geographic and a number of other local and national outlets. His first book, “Suggestible You,” about how the mind and body continually twist and shape our realities, was supported in part by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and is available on Amazon or through SuggestibleYou.com.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of a shrew, sandpiper, locust, axolotl, monarch butterfly, African killifish, naked mole rat, octopus, bat and cichlid.

The non-model organism “renaissance” has arrived

Meet 10 neuroscientists bringing model diversity back with the funky animals they study.

Assembloids illuminate circuit-level changes linked to autism, neurodevelopment

These complex combinations of organoids afford a closer look at how gene alterations affect certain brain networks.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
19 December 2024 | 0 min watch
By clicking to watch this video, you agree to our privacy policy.

Rajesh Rao reflects on predictive brains, neural interfaces and the future of human intelligence

Twenty-five years ago, Rajesh Rao proposed a seminal theory of how brains could implement predictive coding for perception. His modern version zeroes in on actions.

By Paul Middlebrooks
18 December 2024 | 97 min listen