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. Brain

    Scientists Say: Opioid

    Opioid drugs work in the brain to stop pain. But the drugs also produce pleasure, which can make people want to take them over and over again.

  2. Physics

    Soggy cereal gives clues to how rock dams collapse

    To find out how ice sheets move and rock dams collapse, two researchers turned the attention to breakfast cereal.

  3. Ecosystems

    Welcome to the Arctic’s all-night undersea party

    Life teems in the frozen darkness of the Arctic night. But as the ice recedes and people move in, their light pollution may disturb the animals living there.

  4. Science & Society

    Here’s the science you loved in 2018

    When our readers read about science, they want to read about research that hits close to home, like smartphones, chocolate, vaping and more.

  5. Oceans

    What makes Aquaman special? He can take a lot of pressure

    The new Aquaman movie makes life under the sea look pretty glamorous. In fact, we puny humans probably couldn’t take the pressure.

  6. Climate

    Scientists Say: Rime ice

    Rime ice is ice that forms when water freezes in a snap onto a surface.

  7. Ecosystems

    Scientists Say: Symbiosis

    Two species can live together and support each other in a relationship called symbiosis.

  8. Animals

    How do elephants eat cereal? With a pinch

    Elephant trunks can grab everything from whole trees to cereal bits. To pick up fine grains, they press, then pinch.

  9. Math

    Scientists Say: Statistical significance

    Statistical significance is a phrase that describes how often a scientific difference might occur by accident.

  10. Space

    Scientists Say: Orbit

    An orbit is the path one object in space takes around another, such as a planet, star or the center of an atom.

  11. Plants

    Scientists Say: Nectar

    Nectar is a fluid filled with sugar that plants — especially flowers — produce. They use it to attract animals that will then spread their pollen to another plant.

  12. Physics

    Harry Potter can apparate. Can you?

    In the world of Harry Potter, wizards apparate and disapparate with ease. How would that work in the non-magical world? Physics has some answers.