Shaena Montanari.

Shaena Montanari

Former reporter
The Transmitter

Mail - opens a new tab Instagram - opens a new tab Threads - opens a new tab X twitter - opens a new tab Linkedin - opens a new tab Bluesky - opens a new tab Bluesky

Shaena Montanari was a reporter for The Transmitter from 2023 to 2025. 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.

From this contributor

Leafcutter ants carrying leaves.
Social behavior Microphone

Neuropeptides reprogram social roles in leafcutter ants

By Shaena Montanari
11 July 2025 | 6 min read
Research image from a retracted paper.
Cell types Microphone

Nature retracts paper on novel brain cell type against authors’ wishes

By Shaena Montanari
9 July 2025 | 4 min read
Confocal microscopy images.
Publishing

Authors correct image errors in Neuron paper that challenged microglia-to-neuron conversion

By Shaena Montanari
26 June 2025 | 3 min read
Raphael Yuste leaning on a bench in his lab. A red filter colors the scene.
Neural networks

Releasing the Hydra with Rafael Yuste

By Brady Huggett, Shaena Montanari
4 April 2025 | 10 min read
Methods

Plaque levels differ in popular Alzheimer’s mouse model depending on which parent’s variants are passed down

By Shaena Montanari
4 February 2025 | 0 min watch

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

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of cursor movement from high gamma activity.
Electrophysiology

Recording warning: Common brain signal may be misunderstood

High gamma activity in electrophysiologic recordings reflects widespread neural activity, not merely local firing, as previously thought.

By Claudia López Lloreda
30 June 2026 | 5 min read
Mouse drinking syrup from syringe.
Metabolism

Fructose silences hunger-driving neurons less than glucose does

Two simple sugars show the complexities of gut-brain communication.

By Sarah Thau
30 June 2026 | 3 min read
Research image of mice brains, showing larger cerebral cortices and smaller subcortical volumes.
Spectrum

A new subtyping model for autism phenotypes late in development, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 29 June.

By Sarah Thau
30 June 2026 | 2 min read