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Yasemin Saplakoglu

Yasemin Saplakoglu

Staff Writer

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Latest Articles

A person stares at a thought bubble.
cognition

Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
May 24, 2023
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New experiments show that the brain distinguishes between perceived and imagined mental images by checking whether they cross a “reality threshold.”

An illustrated human figure with memories of a blue flower looks out at the world and is more attuned to seeing other blue flowers.
memory

Memories Help Brains Recognize New Events Worth Remembering

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
May 17, 2023
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Memories may affect how well the brain will learn about future events by shifting our perceptions of the world.

What Causes Alzheimer’s? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer. (Pt. 2)

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
May 10, 2023
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If plaques of amyloid protein in the brain aren’t the root cause of Alzheimer’s disease, what is?

A female Bolivian squirrel monkey with a baby on its back, walking across a suspended rope ladder. A third money crouches behind it.
evolution

Animal Mutation Rates Reveal Traits That Speed Evolution

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
April 5, 2023
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The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can evolve.

microbiome

Global Microbiome Study Gives New View of Shared Health Risks

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
March 14, 2023
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The most comprehensive survey of how we share our microbiomes suggests a new way of thinking about the risks of developing some diseases that aren’t usually considered contagious.

An illustration of a plate of spaghetti with big virus particles instead of meatballs.
microbiology

With Nothing to Eat Except Viruses, Some Microbes Thrive

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
February 21, 2023
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“Virovores” — organisms that survive and multiply by eating viruses — might influence the flow of energy through ecosystems.

Illustration of a mother holding an infant, with strands of DNA running between the bacteria inside them.
microbiome

Mobile Genes From the Mother Shape the Baby’s Microbiome

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
January 17, 2023
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Tiny genetic sequences in a mother’s bacteria seem to hop into the infant’s bacteria, perhaps ensuring a healthy microbiome later in life.

Illustration in which a forest scene is mirrored in a person’s right eye while the left eye shows a clock.
neuroscience

How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
December 14, 2022
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The neural representations of a perceived image and the memory of it are almost the same. New work shows how and why they are different.

neuroscience

What Causes Alzheimer’s? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
December 8, 2022
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After decades in the shadow of the reigning model for Alzheimer’s disease, alternative explanations are finally getting the attention they deserve.


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About the author

Yasemin is a staff writer covering biology for Quanta Magazine. Previously, she reported for three years on a wide range of fields for Live Science, with extensive coverage of neuroscience, health and COVID-19. She has also written for Scientific American and the San Jose Mercury News. She holds an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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