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. Animals

    Scientists seek bat detectives

    Bats emit high-pitched calls in the night to find their way around. A citizen science project is eavesdropping on these calls to probe the health of ecosystems.

  2. A do-it-yourself map of touch

    Some parts of our bodies are more sensitive than others. In the brain, regions that respond to your fingertips, for instance, take up more space than those linked to your legs. A website helps you visualize this with a simple test.

  3. Cookie Science 9: How data can spread

    Two people often will rank things (such as a cookie’s taste) differently. The spread — or how broadly the rankings differ — helps me understand how one test condition compares to the others.

  4. Cookie Science 8: The meaning of the mean

    I have had people eat cookies and fill out surveys. What do I do with all those numbers? First I have to find something called the arithmetic mean.

  5. 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.

  6. 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

  7. 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.

  8. I love science because…

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

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

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