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

    Science-fair finding allows girl to sample a croissant

    Some supplements claim they can help people with celiac disease, who cannot digest gluten. But do the pills work? One teen used science to find out.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Which bacteria hang out in belly buttons? Here’s a who’s who

    Bacteria are everywhere — even in our belly buttons. One teen at Intel ISEF decided to find out what types people were harboring in their navels.

  3. Life

    Scientists Say: Vacuole

    Cells can’t always get rid of trash or digest food immediately. This week’s word describes where they store their stuff.

  4. Plants

    Scientists Say: Invasive species

    These are foreign species that are causing problems for native organisms and ecosystems.

  5. Tech

    Star Wars‘ cutest droids would get stuck on the beach

    On screen, R2D2 and BB-8 travel over every type of terrain. But in real life, any sandy path would stop these droids short.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Nocturnal and diurnal

    Nocturnal animals are active at night. Diurnal animals live it up during the day.

  7. Life

    These fish have truly flashing eyes

    A reef fish can send flashes of light from its eyes. This trick might help the fish track its prey.

  8. Animals

    Nature shows how dragons might breathe fire

    Fire-breathing dragons can’t live anywhere outside of a book or TV. But nature provides some guidance as to how they might get their flames. If they existed, anyway.

  9. Life

    Scientists Say: Kelp

    Kelp is a kind of seaweed that forms huge forests under the ocean. But it isn’t a plant; it’s a type of algae.

  10. Math

    Scientists Say: Uncertainty

    In science, uncertainty is a term used to express how much data might vary around a measured point.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Lactose

    You might not think of dairy products having sugar, but they do. Milk is rich in a sugar called lactose.

  12. Space

    Scientists Say: Oort cloud

    The very edge of our solar system is a crowded place. It’s full of ice and rocks in a bubble called the Oort cloud.