Olivia Gieger

Former news reporting intern
The Transmitter

Olivia Gieger is a science reporter and was The Transmitter’s news reporting intern in the summer of 2024. She is completing her M.A. in journalism in New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. There, she has covered emergency medicine, conservation ecology and climate attribution science. Her work has appeared in Inside Climate News, Forbes and Scienceline.

From this contributor

Craft and careers

By Olivia Gieger

9 October 2024

7 min read

How neuroscience comics add KA-POW! to the field: Q&A with Kanaka Rajan

The artistic approach can help explain complex ideas frame by frame without diluting the science, Rajan says.

Craft and careers

How neuroscience comics add KA-POW! to the field: Q&A with Kanaka Rajan

By Olivia Gieger

9 October 2024 | 7 min read

Craft and careers

By Olivia Gieger

20 September 2024

7 min read

Young researcher sitting in the grass holding a pillow shaped like a fish.

Seeing research through a new lens: Q&A with Pei Yuan Zhang

When she’s not in the lab, the cognitive scientist films documentaries that challenge her love of data and order.

Craft and careers

Seeing research through a new lens: Q&A with Pei Yuan Zhang

By Olivia Gieger

20 September 2024 | 7 min read

Ketamine

By Olivia Gieger

4 September 2024

6 min read

Illustration of ketamine blocking open ion channels in active NMDA receptors, quieting the cells and disrupting downstream signaling involved in depression.

Ketamine targets lateral habenula, setting off cascade of antidepressant effects

The drug’s affinity for overactive cells in the “anti-reward” region may help explain its rapid and long-lasting results.

Ketamine

Ketamine targets lateral habenula, setting off cascade of antidepressant effects

By Olivia Gieger

4 September 2024 | 6 min read

Interneurons

By Olivia Gieger

14 August 2024

5 min read

Research image of different interneuron subtypes responding to the absence of pyramidal neurons in the mouse cortex.

As circuits wire up, interneurons take cues from surrounding cells

The inhibitory cells’ development, diversity and abundance in the cortex is directed in part by pyramidal cells, a new preprint suggests.

Interneurons

As circuits wire up, interneurons take cues from surrounding cells

By Olivia Gieger

14 August 2024 | 5 min read

Face processing

By Olivia Gieger

19 July 2024

5 min read

A marble bust of a face that is covered in real leaves.

Newly found circuit through visual cortex powers first look at faces

The superior colliculus, an evolutionarily ancient brain area responsible for eye movements, responds to faces before the canonical face areas do, a study of macaque monkeys suggests.

Face processing