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. Math

    Teen puts calculus on ice

    Jacob Nichols wondered if he could use calculus to find the volume of the icicles building up outside his house. His study earned him a spot at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

  2. Oceans

    Digging a trench to stop a tsunami

    Boyd Kane built his own wave tank to study tsunamis and how he might change the seafloor to stop their advance.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Beautiful nails may harbor germs

    Two students wondered why they weren’t allowed to wear fake nails as nursing assistants. They decided to use science to probe why. What they found sent them to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

  4. Slime: A new way to protect plants from slugs

    Katie Gwaltney had a slug problem in her garden. She decided to try using the slugs’ own slime against them. Her findings earned the high school freshman a finalist’s spot at this week's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

  5. Studying a weevil to save a tree

    A root weevil is causing billions of dollars in damage to fruit trees in Florida. To save a tree of his own, Evan MacKay decided to study the pest, earning him a finalist’s spot at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

  6. Solving bad breath one walnut at a time

    Two teens came up with a cheap and simple solution to halitosis. It’s the African walnut.

  7. Tech

    Making magic with mechanical engineering

    As kids, we all want to make magic. But Michelle Phillips took that dream further. She realized that she wanted to build rides for amusement parks.

  8. Sharing a love of science with the world

    Julia Paoli has starter her science career in high school, writing a science blog at Scitable to teach the world about viruses.

  9. Science & Society

    Students use STEM to help their community

    Every community has its problems. A nationwide contest encourages students to tap science to solve local needs.

  10. Kids win $1,000 in clean energy challenge

    KidWind held its first national competition. The kid’s turbines generated enough power to light an LED bulb.

  11. Physics

    Student radiation experiment goes to space

    The Exploration Design Challenge asked students to design shields that would protect astronauts from radiation. Teachers can still involve classes in the challenge.

  12. Museum showcases healthcare beyond the bedside

    Chicago’s International Museum of Surgical Sciences has a new exhibit that displays a cross-section of alternative jobs in medicine.