portrait of Marcus A. Banks

Marcus A. Banks


Marcus Banks is an intern at Spectrum and a 2019 graduate of the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University. He has also worked at Nature Medicine and TCTMD.
Before becoming a journalist, Marcus was a health sciences librarian, most of the time in management roles. His first position was as associate fellow of the National Library of Medicine, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He has also worked at New York University, the University of California, San Francisco, and Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, California.  He has a B.A. in English from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a master’s degree in library and information science from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Portfolio of SCN2A gene variants, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 9 March.

By Jill Adams
10 March 2026 | 2 min read
Research image of a mouse hippocampus.

Hippocampus builds reputation as ‘general-purpose statistical learning machine’

New cross-species findings may help settle a long-standing debate about whether the hippocampus is required for passive learning.

By Natalia Mesa
10 March 2026 | 5 min read

‘The Fox, the Shrew, and You: How Brains Evolved,’ an excerpt

In his new book, Rogier Mars provides a detailed account of animal and human brain evolution. In this excerpt from Chapter 1, he starts with the sea squirt—and why it needs the brain it eats after its larval stage.

By Rogier Mars
10 March 2026 | 6 min read

privacy consent banner

Privacy Preference

We use cookies to provide you with the best online experience. By clicking “Accept All,” you help us understand how our site is used and enhance its performance. You can change your choice at any time. To learn more, please visit our Privacy Policy.