Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire was a longtime staff writer at Science News Explores and is the author of the book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. She has a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in philosophy from The College of William and Mary, and a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She was a 2019-2020 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, the winner of the Society for Neuroscience Next Generation Award and the Three Quarks Daily Science Writing Award, among others.

All Stories by Bethany Brookshire

  1. Scientists Say: Faraday cage

    A Faraday cage is an enclosure that distributes electrical charge all over its outside. That keeps the inside totally safe from electromagnetic waves.

  2. Life

    Explainer: Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

    Prokaryotes tend to be small and simple, while eukaryotes have embraced a highly organized lifestyle. These divergent approaches to life have both proved very successful.

  3. Animals

    Could an elephant ever fly?

    Dumbo is known as the only elephant to take flight. He’s not real. But could he be?

  4. Earth

    Scientists Say: Geyser

    Geysers are underground springs with vents to the surface. When the water gets heated from nearby magma, the geyser blows.

  5. Earth

    Why we should stop ignoring the life stories of minerals

    All pure diamonds are the same mineral. But they didn’t form the same way. One scientist thinks it’s time to talk about the life stories of such rocks.

  6. Animals

    Scientists Say: Okapi

    Okapis are African mammals that look a bit like horses and a bit like zebras. But they’re most closely related to giraffes.

  7. What is trendy in today’s science fair projects?

    Over the past 10 years, behavioral and social sciences have dominated submissions to the Regeneron Science Talent Search.

  8. Space

    Exoplanet hunting, HIV-fighting and math garner big prizes for teens

    Winners of the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent search hunted exoplanets in new ways, tracked how HIV likes to hide and tackled some candy jar math.

  9. Climate

    These teens have some ideas for stopping climate change

    If you could do one thing to stop climate change, what would it be? We asked some of the finalists at the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Here’s why Rapunzel’s hair makes a great rope ladder

    The fairy tale ‘Rapunzel’ features a princess with a lifesaving head of hair. Could someone really use their hair as a ladder? Sort of.

  11. Chemistry

    Big rock candy science

    Instructions for making your own rock candy say to dip your stick or string in sugar before putting it in your sugar solution. Does that matter?

  12. Climate

    Scientists Say: Waterspout

    A whirlwind over land is just a whirlwind. But over water, a whirlwind becomes a waterspout.

Use up and down arrow keys to explore.Use right arrow key to move into the list.Use left arrow key to move back to the parent list.Use tab key to enter the current list item.Use escape to exit the menu.Use the Shift key with the Tab key to tab back to the search input.