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.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Constellation of studies charts brain development, offers ‘dramatic revision’

The atlases could pinpoint pathways that determine the fate of cells linked to neurodevelopmental conditions.

By Holly Barker
5 November 2025 | 6 min read

Daniel Nicholson discusses how Schrödinger’s book ‘What is Life?’ shaped years of biology, research

Combing through historical archives, Nicholson discovered what drove Erwin Schrödinger to pen “What Is Life,” his famous "little book": Schrödinger feared that new discoveries in quantum physics would influence how we think about free will.

By Paul Middlebrooks
5 November 2025 | 1 min read

Our searchable repository of useful research can restore trust in federally funded basic science

Called U.S. Public Research Benefits, the database showcases the value of basic science in an easy and accessible format.

By Adam Charles
5 November 2025 | 6 min listen

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