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. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Solution

    In math, this is just the answer to your problem. In chemistry, this word means something else entirely.

  2. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Base

    Bases are chemicals that contain negatively charged chemical groups made from oxygen and hydrogen. They lend coffee its bitter flavor and have pH rankings higher than 7.0.

  3. How kids ‘see’ scientists depends on what they read

    When students draw a scientist, they rely on messages from textbooks and other media. Now do your own version of the experiment and see if your results match.

  4. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Acid

    When a chemical tastes sour, ranks below 7.0 on the pH scale and has many hydrogen ions in its solution, it gets a special name.

  5. Genetics

    Scientists Say: Mutation

    Information in an organism is stored in a code. Here’s the word scientists use to describe a change in that code.

  6. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Keratin

    Keratin is a fibrous protein that gives our nails and hair their strength.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Scientists Say: Umami

    What’s the word for something savory? Umami is a taste, and is often described as being meaty.

  8. Health & Medicine

    The most popular stories of 2015

    Our readers love to read about health and wellness. Check out which stories were most popular.

  9. Give a holiday gift of science

    Science-themed gifts can be a lot of fun. These offer experiences that entertain and teach.

  10. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Joule

    A joule is the amount of work done when a force of one newton moves an object one meter. It’s also the energy required to produce one watt for one second.

  11. Agriculture

    New gene resists our last-ditch drug

    Antibiotic resistance continues to grow. Now, scientists have found a tiny loop of DNA that resists a drug doctors use as a last line of defense.

  12. Most needy don’t attend free online courses

    Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, were supposed to make first-class college offerings free to the masses. But new data show that people who would benefit most from these classes are not who are attending them.