Jeanne Erdmann is an award-winning health and science writer based in Wentzville, Mo. A member of Association of
Health Care Journalists board of directors, she is the chair of the organization’s Freelance Committee. Her work has appeared in Discover, Women’s Health, Aeon, Slate, The Washington Post, Nature, Nature Medicine and other publications. You can follow her at @jeanne_erdmann.
Jeanne Erdmann
From this contributor
Analysis pins down prevalence of mental health conditions in autism
Eight mental health conditions occur unusually often in autistic people, a new analysis suggests.
Analysis pins down prevalence of mental health conditions in autism
By
Jeanne Erdmann
7 October 2019 | 2 min read
Drug screen reveals potential treatments for Rett syndrome
An experimental leukemia drug and a chemical in black pepper ease breathing and movement problems in a mouse model of Rett syndrome.
Drug screen reveals potential treatments for Rett syndrome
By
Jeanne Erdmann
11 September 2019 | 4 min read
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Jill Adams
14 April 2026 | 2 min read
This paper changed my life: Erin Calipari ponders the nuances of rewarding and aversive stimuli
A 1960s study by Kelleher and Morse found that lever pressing in squirrel monkeys depended not on whether they received a reward or shock, but on the rules of the task. This taught Calipari to think deeply about factors that influence how behavior is generated and maintained.
This paper changed my life: Erin Calipari ponders the nuances of rewarding and aversive stimuli
A 1960s study by Kelleher and Morse found that lever pressing in squirrel monkeys depended not on whether they received a reward or shock, but on the rules of the task. This taught Calipari to think deeply about factors that influence how behavior is generated and maintained.
By
Erin Calipari
14 April 2026 | 5 min read
Why neural foundation models work, and what they might—and might not—teach us about the brain
These models can partly generalize across species, brain regions and tasks, suggesting that a set of machine-learnable rules govern neural population activity. But will we be able to understand them?
Why neural foundation models work, and what they might—and might not—teach us about the brain
These models can partly generalize across species, brain regions and tasks, suggesting that a set of machine-learnable rules govern neural population activity. But will we be able to understand them?
By
Juan Gallego
13 April 2026 | 8 min read