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. Space

    Scientists Say: Multiverse

    The multiverse is an idea that there are many universes out there, including the one we live in. Each universe has an alternate reality.

  2. Brain

    The immune system has a say in how hard ‘teen’ rats play

    “Teen” rats like to wrestle. A new study shows the brain’s immune system might trigger changes that morph this desire for rough-and-tumble play into the calm of adulthood.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Quarantine

    This is a restriction on where people or animals who are sick — or suspected of being sick — can go. Doctors use quarantine to try to prevent a disease from spreading.

  4. Microbes

    Bacteria and bugs will save us from the zombie apocalypse

    Don’t fear the undead. Here’s how the body’s cells, microbes and insects will eat a zombie before it ever goes looking for brains.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Parasite

    Lots of organisms live in pairs, benefitting from each other. But when one organism benefits while the other suffers? That first organism is a parasite.

  6. Ecosystems

    Scientists Say: Understory

    A forest isn’t made just out of the tallest trees. Shorter trees and shrubs thrive in their shade. This layer is called the understory.

  7. Scientists Say: Data

    Data are a group of facts that are collected together for analysis.

  8. Space

    Scientists Say: Yellow dwarf

    Yellow dwarf is a term used for a medium-sized star. Our sun is a yellow dwarf.

  9. Physics

    Doctor Who’s TARDIS is bigger on the inside — but how?

    The TARDIS looks like a old police box on the outside. But on the inside, it’s got plenty of space. How does that work? It just takes a wormhole and a tesseract or two.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Explainer: What are proteins?

    In the body, proteins act as biochemical machines to carry out the work of cells.

  11. Humans

    Scientists Say: Neandertal

    This extinct species is a close relative of modern humans. Neandertals lived in Europe and Asia, and made tools and jewelry — just like us.

  12. Physics

    Scientists Say: Kelvin

    Kelvin is a temperature scale. It’s based around the concept of “absolute zero,” a temperature so cold that molecules stop moving.