Ben Kuebrich is a reporter for High Plains Public Radio, an NPR station in Western Kansas. He spent 10 years studying neuroscience and working in laboratories at institutions such as Emory University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo. During that time, he also fell in love with listening to podcasts. He started his career in audio doing research and fact-checking for the Gimlet podcast “Science Vs.” You can also listen to his podcast “Selects,” which highlights the work of independent podcast producers.
Ben Kuebrich
From this contributor
Spectrum Stories: The benefits of genetic testing in autism
Finding a mutation linked to autism traits can have life-changing consequences for autistic individuals and their families.
Spectrum Stories: The benefits of genetic testing in autism
By
Ben Kuebrich
18 March 2019 | 14 min listen
Spectrum Stories: Tapping intelligence in minimally verbal people with autism
Scientists are finding new ways to test cognition in autistic individuals who speak little or not at all.
Spectrum Stories: Tapping intelligence in minimally verbal people with autism
By
Ben Kuebrich
23 January 2019 | 16 min listen
Spectrum Stories: Seeing through an autistic person’s eyes
Virtual reality can help typical people experience sensory hypersensitivity and other perceptual differences that autistic individuals describe. Host Ben Kuebrich reports.
Spectrum Stories: Seeing through an autistic person’s eyes
By
Ben Kuebrich
24 October 2018 | 13 min listen
Spectrum Stories: Resetting the autistic brain
Deep brain stimulation is not an approved treatment for autism but has helped some people with extreme obsessions and other severe traits. Host Ben Kuebrich investigates one success story.
Spectrum Stories: Resetting the autistic brain
By
Ben Kuebrich
14 September 2018 | 16 min listen
Spectrum Stories: Understanding autism’s suicide risk
Suicidal thoughts appear to be more common in autistic people but they’re also more difficult to detect. Host Ben Kuebrich reports.
Spectrum Stories: Understanding autism’s suicide risk
By
Ben Kuebrich
13 August 2018 | 13 min listen
Explore more from The Transmitter
Revisiting the neural correlates of consciousness
Life happens in real time, but experience may be composed in ragtime—like the music genre, full of offbeat notes and uneven rhythms. The assumption that waking life consists of a “stream” of conscious representations has inadvertently led consciousness science to its current impasse.
Revisiting the neural correlates of consciousness
Life happens in real time, but experience may be composed in ragtime—like the music genre, full of offbeat notes and uneven rhythms. The assumption that waking life consists of a “stream” of conscious representations has inadvertently led consciousness science to its current impasse.
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Francis T. Fallon, Michael Pitts
28 September 2026 | 7 min read
Grant review needs reform. How about we add an element of chance?
A process that uses a lottery system saves time, reduces strategic resubmission and accepts that, above a quality threshold, luck has always played a part in science funding.
Grant review needs reform. How about we add an element of chance?
A process that uses a lottery system saves time, reduces strategic resubmission and accepts that, above a quality threshold, luck has always played a part in science funding.
By
Adrien Peyrache
25 September 2026 | 6 min read
Fly neurons carry molecular signatures of their origins
The pattern of transcription factors a Drosophila neuron expresses offers clues to its lineage and birth order—and ultimately how neural circuits emerge.
Fly neurons carry molecular signatures of their origins
The pattern of transcription factors a Drosophila neuron expresses offers clues to its lineage and birth order—and ultimately how neural circuits emerge.
By
Alissa de Chassey
25 September 2026 | 5 min read