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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.
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All Stories by Bethany Brookshire
- Math
Scientists Say: Outlier
Data points often fall within a normal range. When one data point sticks out a lot, it might be an outlier.
- Animals
How do you build a centaur?
A centaur has the torso of a human and the body of a horse. It may sound cool, but it wouldn’t work very well.
- Earth
Let’s learn about snow
Snow is more than just frozen water vapor. Scientists are studying everything from its shape to other planets where snowflakes fall.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Organelle
An organelle is a part of a cell with a particular function. Like organs. But for cells.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Piezoelectric
Piezoelectric materials produce an electric voltage when they are bent or squished. This can let us harvest electricity from movement.
- Health & Medicine
Five questions about COVID-19 vaccine trials in teens, answered
Scientists are now testing COVID-19 vaccines in teens. Why do teens need a separate trial? And what would happen? We’ve got answers.
- Health & Medicine
Let’s learn about taste
Taste tells us what’s good to eat, but scientists are still learning about how it works.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Body Mass Index
This is someone’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters. But it’s not a measure of someone’s health.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Molecule
A molecule is a group of atoms linked with chemical bonds. It’s the smallest particle of a substance that has all of its chemical properties.
- Physics
Let’s learn about gravity
Gravity is an attraction between objects with mass. The more massive the object, the more gravity it’s got.
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Scientists Say: Respiration
Breathe in and out, that’s respiration. Have a cell break down sugars for energy, and that’s respiration too.
- Brain
Loneliness makes our brains crave people
An area of the brain that lights up when hungry people see food also revs up when lonely people see social activities.