Bethany Brookshire

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. Climate

    Scientists Say: Ozone

    Ozone is a molecule made of three oxygen atoms. In a layer above the Earth, it protects us from harmful radiation, but too close to home, it can harm our health.

  2. Earth

    Scientists Say: Speleology

    This is the scientific study of caves, which can include what they’re made of, how they form and what lives in them.

  3. Agriculture

    Scientists Say: Domestication

    Domestication is the process of deliberately taking a wild organism — a plant or animal for instance — and making it a part of our daily lives.

  4. Life

    Scientists Say: Biofilm

    When times get tough, some microbes like to stick together. They form a mass stuck to a surface, called a biofilm.

  5. Animals

    Listening to fish love songs can predict their numbers

    Gulf corvinas croak for mates while in groups of millions. By listening to their undersea serenades, scientists may be able to estimate how many are out there.

  6. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Photochromic

    Photochromic chemicals change shape when exposed to a specific wavelength of light. The shape change changes the chemical’s color.

  7. Brain

    Tongues ‘taste’ water by sensing sour

    Water doesn’t taste like much, but our tongues need to detect it somehow. They may do it by sensing acid, a new study shows.

  8. Brain

    Scientists Say: Amygdala

    Named after the Greek word for “almond,” the amygdala helps us process emotions, make decisions and form memories.

  9. Brain

    Brains learning together act the same

    When students are all focused on the same thing, their brainwaves look the same, a new study shows.

  10. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Catalyst

    Sometimes a chemical reaction can take a while. If speed is needed, a catalyst can help.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Acoustic

    Acoustic is an adjective used to describe something involving sound. It’s also a noun that refers to the branch of physics that studies sound.

  12. Animals

    Scientists Say: Extremophile

    Some species can survive high heat, freezing cold or other extreme environments. Scientists call these organisms extremophiles.