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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The chimeric mice could help untangle the biology of human brain development or conditions such as autism.
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What if Hegel were a neuroscientist?
Andrea Gambarotto shares what Hegel and enactivism have in common: an agency-first approach to understanding minds and brains.
What if Hegel were a neuroscientist?
Andrea Gambarotto shares what Hegel and enactivism have in common: an agency-first approach to understanding minds and brains.
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Paul Middlebrooks
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This paper changed my life: Transformative work in addiction neuroscience
A 2011 Nature study found that loss of a nicotinic receptor subunit leads to increased nicotine intake in mice. The work set the standard for how to functionally validate genetic association study findings in neuroscience.
This paper changed my life: Transformative work in addiction neuroscience
A 2011 Nature study found that loss of a nicotinic receptor subunit leads to increased nicotine intake in mice. The work set the standard for how to functionally validate genetic association study findings in neuroscience.
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Jibran Khokhar
16 September 2026 | 6 min read