Katharine Gammon is an award-winning independent science journalist based in Santa Monica, California. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, WIRED, The Guardian, Undark, Popular Science, MIT Technology Review, Nature, Hakai and beyond.
Katharine Gammon
From this contributor
Spotted around the web: Mapping histones; COVID-19 births; acetaminophen lawsuits
Here is a roundup of news and research for the week of 31 October.
Spotted around the web: Mapping histones; COVID-19 births; acetaminophen lawsuits
By
Jill Adams, Katharine Gammon, Peter Hess, Nicholette Zeliadt
4 November 2022 | 3 min read
A mix of common and rare variants shapes autism inheritance patterns
The study also reveals a link between language development and common variants.
A mix of common and rare variants shapes autism inheritance patterns
By
Katharine Gammon
4 November 2022 | 3 min read
Zebrafish point to new gene involved in brain overgrowth, autism
The gene, YTHDF2, has not previously been linked to autism.
Zebrafish point to new gene involved in brain overgrowth, autism
By
Katharine Gammon
1 November 2022 | 3 min read
Lags in genetic testing, variant reporting hinder autism research
Few autistic people undergo the recommended genetic testing for their condition, and test results often do not make their way into public databases, where researchers and clinicians can learn from them.
Lags in genetic testing, variant reporting hinder autism research
By
Katharine Gammon
28 October 2022 | 4 min read
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‘Friction-maxxing’ in school: Students should read primary literature, not AI summaries
Trainees need to learn how to identify a neuroscience paper’s major takeaways and integrate them into their understanding. This skill doesn’t come from outsourcing the work to large language models.
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26 March 2026 | 5 min read
Head direction cells stably orient mice to outside world
The cells’ representations show little drift over time—unlike those of other navigation system neurons—and may provide a “rigid backbone” for more flexible sensory and cognitive responses.
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A wealth of evidence supports the view that neural manifolds are real and useful, Gallego says, even if they may not completely solve the age-old mind-body problem.
Juan Gallego discusses how manifolds are transforming our understanding of the coordination of neuronal population activity
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Paul Middlebrooks
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