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. Teachers launch weather balloons, and a passion for science

    Making science hands-on can help inspire students and show how interdisciplinary research can be. Here, two teachers share their experiences working with a high-altitude research-balloon kit.

  2. Food can make an appetizing science fair project

    Many students think they need a laboratory or special equipment for a winning research project. But finalists at the Broadcom MASTERS competition showed food-based research may require little more than your home kitchen

  3. Statistics: Make conclusions cautiously

    Many scientists have been using one particular method to determine if they can rely on the data they collect. But others point out that this method requires a lot more caution than most scientists give it.

  4. I love science because…

    Finalists at the Broadcom MASTERS tell Eureka! Lab what they love most about science — and what they find challenging.

  5. Science & Society

    Check out the Broadcom MASTERS awards ceremony

    Last night saw the award ceremony of the Broadcom MASTERS, an annual science competition for middle school science. The honorees received awards and recounted an unforgettable experience.

  6. The science of the strongest stitch

    Sewing connects most of the fabric products in our lives, from spacesuits to seatbelts. A teen scientist set out to find the strongest stitch.

  7. A teen’s invention helps log asthma symptoms

    When she was diagnosed with asthma, Annika Urban often found her symptoms disappeared by the time she got to a doctor. Her new invention helps log those symptoms when they occur — even at home. Later, they can be sent over the Internet to a doctor for analysis.

  8. Teachers: Deadline looms for solve-it program

    The deadline is almost over for teachers to enter their classrooms in a national program for middle- and high-school students. Each group selected will design projects to solve problems in their local community.

  9. A matchstick rocket may fail to launch

    An experiment with a matchstick rocket is supposed to have an explosive effect. In our tests, it fizzled.

  10. Some teens perform better when they multitask

    We are always told to focus on the task at hand. But two high school students show that for some teens, focus might not be the best way to get work done.

  11. Cookie Science 7: How many to bake?

    I have a hypothesis and I’m baking my cookies. To collect good data, how many people will need to sample them?

  12. Teen studies how germs resist our drugs

    Many bacteria become immune to the drugs meant to kill them. A high school student studied whether microbes might resist zinc as well. His findings ended up in a published paper.