Leah Shaffer

Freelance writer

Leah Shaffer is a freelance science writer based in St. Louis, Missouri. Her stories have appeared in publications such as Wired, The Atlantic, Discover, NOVA Next and UnDark. She writes about biology, medicine and the weird critters inside and outside the human body.

From this contributor

Spectrum

By Leah Shaffer

26 June 2019

16 min read

Supplements, worms and stool: How families are trying to game the gut to treat autism traits

Scientists are playing catch-up as microbiome-based treatments for autism proliferate.

Spectrum

Supplements, worms and stool: How families are trying to game the gut to treat autism traits

By Leah Shaffer

26 June 2019 | 16 min read

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Brain Inspired

By Paul Middlebrooks

13 August 2025

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Chris Rozell explains how brain stimulation and AI are helping to treat mental disorders

Rozell and his colleagues, using deep brain stimulation and explainable artificial intelligence, have developed tools to help people with treatment-resistant depression.

By clicking to watch this video, you agree to our privacy policy.

Brain Inspired

Chris Rozell explains how brain stimulation and AI are helping to treat mental disorders

Rozell and his colleagues, using deep brain stimulation and explainable artificial intelligence, have developed tools to help people with treatment-resistant depression.

By Paul Middlebrooks

13 August 2025 | 1 min read

This paper changed my life

By Abigail Person

12 August 2025

6 min listen

Illustration of a musical staff with notes represented by neurons.

This paper changed my life: Abigail Person on birdsong, feed-forward circuits and convergent computations

By isolating specific neuron types involved in zebra finch birdsong, this 2002 Nature paper from Michael Fee and colleagues revealed elegant neural mechanisms controlling the timing of natural learned behavior.