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. Tech

    Scientists Say: Radar

    This is a system used to detect objects large and small. It works by sending out radio waves and waiting for them to bounce back.

  2. Sage advice from scientists to students

    Every scientist was a kid once. Here, they offer their advice to students on making their scientific careers a success.

  3. Animals

    Scientists Say: Dung

    This word is used to refer to animal poop. You know, manure. Crap. Feces.

  4. Science & Society

    Explainer: The Nobel Prize

    Every year, Nobel Prize winners are front page news for their discoveries. But what is a Nobel Prize and why does it matter? We explain.

  5. Physics

    Scientists Say: Refraction

    Light or sound may bend as it travels from one medium, such as air, to another, such as water. This bending is called refraction.

  6. Climate

    Scientists Say: Weather bomb

    Weather doesn’t just affect the air. Huge storms can send waves of pressure through the Earth as well.

  7. Health & Medicine

    The five-second rule: Designing an experiment

    Is it true that food is still clean if it’s picked up off the floor before five seconds have passed? To find out, we designed an experiment to give us data.

  8. Health & Medicine

    The five-second rule: Growing germs for science

    Is it true that food dropped on the floor and picked up after five seconds is clean? To find out, we’re building an incubator and allowing any hitchhiking germs to grow.

  9. Health & Medicine

    The five-second rule: Myth busted?

    We’ve done an experiment to test the five-second rule. Now it’s time to analyze the data. Be forewarned: They’re not appetizing.

  10. Health & Medicine

    The five-second rule: Microbes can’t count

    A good scientific study compares results to what other scientists have done. These scientists have all debunked the five-second rule.

  11. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Capsaicin

    This chemical is produced by pepper plants and gives them their hot flavor.

  12. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Graphene

    This is a single layer of carbon atoms, linked to each other in a flat sheet. It’s super strong, super flexible and conducts current, too.