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

    Scientists Say: Epidermis

    The epidermis is the outer layer of your skin. It helps protect you from dangerous things in the environment, and helps control how much water evaporates from your body.

  2. Microbes

    Scientists Say: Microbiome

    You’ve got company. Every animal and plant has microscopic organisms living on and in them. These include bacteria, protists, archaea, fungi and viruses.

  3. Ecosystems

    Here’s why scientists have been fertilizing the Arctic

    For more than 30 years, scientists have been fertilizing small parcels of Arctic tundra. Here’s what happens when you push an ecosystem to the brink.

  4. Plants

    Explainer: The fertilizing power of N and P

    Two elements — nitrogen and phosphorus — help plants grow. When the soil doesn’t have them, farmers might add them in the form of fertilizer.

  5. Brain

    Ow! These cells might help brains remember pain and fear

    The brain may learn from traumatic experiences with the help of special cells, a new study finds. Scientists used to think these cells, called astrocytes, were just there to support others.

  6. Here’s the science you loved most this year

    From dinosaur deaths to screen time, here’s the science stories you were reading this year.

  7. Physics

    Scientists Say: Laser

    A laser is a device that emits a strong, narrow beam of light. “Laser” is actually an acronym, and stands for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.”

  8. Ecosystems

    Scientists Say: Bog

    Bogs are a type of wetland in which partially decayed plants sink down and form peat.

  9. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Amino Acid

    Amino acids are small molecules that make up proteins and serve as messengers in our cells.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Vestigial

    This adjective is used to describe something — like a body part or organ — that doesn’t have a function. Often it is smaller or less developed than the functional version in another species.

  11. Earth

    Scientists Say: Ionosphere

    The ionosphere is a region of the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The molecules there absorb ultraviolet light and reflect radio waves.

  12. Chemistry

    Knowing what you don’t know can help your grades improve

    Students who don’t know much tend to be overconfident. A new study shows how bursting their bubbles can help their grades.