Ingfei Chen is a writer and editor in Northern California who likes telling stories about medicine, science and the environment. Her articles have published in The New York Times, Science, KQED Mindshift, Scientific American and Smithsonian, among others.
Ingfei Chen
Freelance writer
From this contributor
What baby siblings can teach us about autism
Studies of infants at risk for autism have not yielded a test to predict who will eventually be diagnosed. But they have transformed our understanding of the condition.
The gene hunters
Criss-crossing the globe on a quest for unusual DNA, researchers have discovered a rare mutation that promises insights into both epilepsy and autism — and points to a treatment.
Wide awake: Why children with autism struggle with sleep
Half of children who have autism have trouble falling or staying asleep, which may make their symptoms worse. Scientists are just beginning to explore what goes wrong in the midnight hour.
Wide awake: Why children with autism struggle with sleep
By
Ingfei Chen
7 October 2015 | 15 min read
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Two years into one of the most tumultuous tenures in U.S. federal funding, researchers outline how they are coping with ongoing changes and reflect on the impact these changes are having on the system more broadly.
Amid funding uncertainty, neuroscientists report a mix of cynicism, persistence
Two years into one of the most tumultuous tenures in U.S. federal funding, researchers outline how they are coping with ongoing changes and reflect on the impact these changes are having on the system more broadly.
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Emily Singer
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Reimagining Mexico’s brain bank
Since Alzheimer’s disease researcher José Luna-Muñoz assumed leadership of the facility—Latin America’s oldest—in 2011, he has been acquiring additional tissue types and is working to expand donor recruitment to rural areas.
Reimagining Mexico’s brain bank
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28 August 2026 | 7 min read
Revealing how crabs make their escape
Houdini-like Neohelice granulata offers a rare opportunity to record intracellularly from awake, behaving animals.
Revealing how crabs make their escape
Houdini-like Neohelice granulata offers a rare opportunity to record intracellularly from awake, behaving animals.
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Natalia Mesa
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