Shaena Montanari joined The Transmitter as an enterprise reporter in January 2023. She was previously an investigative health reporter at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting in Phoenix. Prior to becoming a journalist, Shaena worked as a paleontologist.

Shaena Montanari
Reporter
The Transmitter
From this contributor

Releasing the Hydra with Rafael Yuste
Plaque levels differ in popular Alzheimer’s mouse model depending on which parent’s variants are passed down

Digitization of ‘breathtaking’ neuroanatomy slide collection offers untapped research gold mine

Fleeting sleep interruptions may help brain reset

Brain gene expression syncs between bonded prairie voles
Education
- M.A. in investigative journalism, Arizona State University
- Ph.D. in comparative biology, Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History
- B.S. in geological sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fellowships
- AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship
- AAAS Mass Media Fellowship
- Royal Society Newton International Fellowship
Articles
- “Cracking the egg: the use of modern and fossil eggs for ecological, environmental and biological interpretation” | Royal Society Open Science
- “Pliocene paleoenvironments of southeastern Queensland, Australia inferred from stable isotopes of marsupial tooth enamel” | PLOS ONE
- “Dinosaur eggshell and tooth enamel geochemistry as an indicator of Mongolian Late Cretaceous paleoenvironments” | Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
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Sounding the alarm on pseudoreplication: Q&A with Constantinos Eleftheriou and Peter Kind
Most studies of neurological disorders in mice erroneously treat multiple samples from a single animal as independent replicates, according to a new analysis. But scientists and journals can take steps to curb this practice.

Sounding the alarm on pseudoreplication: Q&A with Constantinos Eleftheriou and Peter Kind
Most studies of neurological disorders in mice erroneously treat multiple samples from a single animal as independent replicates, according to a new analysis. But scientists and journals can take steps to curb this practice.
Psychedelics meta-analysis retracted after authors request ‘significant changes’
While working on a similar analysis last year, an independent researcher spotted inconsistencies in the now-retracted paper.

Psychedelics meta-analysis retracted after authors request ‘significant changes’
While working on a similar analysis last year, an independent researcher spotted inconsistencies in the now-retracted paper.
Some dopamine neurons signal default behaviors to reinforce habits
Movement-sensing neurons that target the striatum influence a mouse’s choice of action by favoring routine.

Some dopamine neurons signal default behaviors to reinforce habits
Movement-sensing neurons that target the striatum influence a mouse’s choice of action by favoring routine.