Headshot of Kat McGowan.

Kat McGowan

Contributing Editor
The Transmitter

Kat McGowan is a freelance writer and editor based in the Bay Area. She edits Deep Dive articles for The Transmitter.

Previously a special projects editor at Discover magazine and a senior editor at Psychology Today, she writes for a range of digital and  print publications, most recently Wired, Nautilus, Aeon, Genome and Slate. She writes about neuroscience, genetics, psychology and other ideas about who we are as people and as a species. Her Discover cover story about the failures of memory, “Out of the Past,” was selected for “Best American Science and Nature Writing” in 2010.

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New projectome captures ‘complex beast’ of serotonin system in mice

The whole-brain map—the first of its kind in a vertebrate—identifies five distinct neuron groups.

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Silent, motion-resistant fMRI expands scans in behaving mice

The method, called SORDINO, captures brain images in animals while they move and interact.

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Autism-linked variants converge on two molecular patterns in mouse brains

Gene activity across 17 autism mouse models occurs in either of two opposing transcriptomic states, supporting the idea that diverse genetic changes may converge on a few recurring biological patterns.

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1 October 2026 | 4 min read