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. Health & Medicine

    Catching sports cheaters with a doping detector

    Doping athletes often don’t get caught until after the competition is over. These two teens decided to come up with a faster test.

  2. Brain

    Belly bacteria can shape mood and behavior

    Our guts and our brains are in constant communication with the goal of managing a whole lot more than food digestion. Their conversations can affect stress, behaviors — even memory.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Explainer: What is the vagus?

    The vagus nerve runs from the brain all through the body. It controls many basic functions, including how fast the heart beats.

  4. Ecosystems

    A robotic fish could help mangroves grow

    Reforested mangroves don’t always grow well. To figure out why, two teens built a robotic mudskipper to measure the mud.

  5. Brain

    Not all social media sites are equally likely to provoke anxiety

    Most teens are on social media. Could these sites cause anxiety? A teen checks it out — and finds big differences.

  6. Science & Society

    Science may help keep a ballerina on her toes

    Ballerinas can go through a pair of shoes every performance. To make her shoes last a little longer, one teen reinforced them with carbon fibers.

  7. Tech

    Scientists Say: Engineering

    Want to build a bridge, clean dirty water, make a new drug or build a machine? You’re going to need an engineer — someone who uses science and math to solve practical problems.

  8. Animals

    Hunting hidden salamanders with eDNA

    The Japanese clouded salamander is an elusive beast. To find a new population, three teens turned to high-tech methods.

  9. Computing

    Fingerprints could help keep kids from dangerous websites

    A teen develops a program that estimates age based on someone’s fingers

  10. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Ultrasound

    Ultrasound is a word used to describe any sounds higher than a person can hear. It’s also a technique used to see inside the body.

  11. Protecting deer with high-pitched noises

    After her uncle crashed his truck into a deer, this teen decided to find out if there was a sound that would drive the animals away from roads.

  12. Health & Medicine

    How many ants is the best number of ants? More than one, fewer than 100

    How many ants does it take to make the best decision? This teen found that four to six is just right.

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