Siri Carpenter

Freelance Writer
Spectrum

Siri Carpenter is an award-winning science writer and editor based in Madison, Wisconsin. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, O: the Oprah Magazine, Science, Scientific American Mind, Science News, and many other publications. She’s first author on the psychology textbook Visualizing Psychology (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). She is also co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Open Notebook, a nonprofit organization and website that provides resources to help science journalists improve their skills.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Barbara Finlay looking at a glass jar with a brain.

Remembering Barbara Finlay, ‘maverick’ of evolutionary neuroscience

Finlay, who died on 12 September, championed the idea that developmental constraints dictate how evolution sculpts brains, a concept she used to model the timing of hundreds of events and align them across mammalian species.

By Calli McMurray
23 October 2026 | 8 min read
A crow looking at a screen showing a circle of white dots on a black background.

Crows have brains ‘in the fast lane’

The birds accurately complete decision-making tasks twice as fast as primates, although their endbrains look considerably different.

By Sarah Thau
22 October 2026 | 4 min read
A boy manipulates blocks at a table while sitting across from a woman taking notes.

Prevalence of profound autism declines with new definition

The updated, more precise definition used in a CDC study includes adaptive scores.

By Brianna Abbott
22 October 2026 | 5 min read