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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Plants
Scientists Say: Invasive species
These are foreign species that are causing problems for native organisms and ecosystems.
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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.
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Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Nocturnal and diurnal
Nocturnal animals are active at night. Diurnal animals live it up during the day.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Math
Scientists Say: Uncertainty
In science, uncertainty is a term used to express how much data might vary around a measured point.
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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.
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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.