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. Brain

    Scientists Say: Blood-brain barrier

    Blood can contain nasty bacteria and other things you want to keep away from your delicate brain. The blood-brain barrier is up to the job.

  2. Popping my own corny experiment

    Popcorn pops at 180 °C, according to a study, but that was corn popped in an oven. What happens if you try to confirm this on a stove top?

  3. Psychology

    Scientists Say: Pareidolia

    We often see things that aren’t there, such as bunnies in clouds or faces in toast. They aren’t real, but they do have a special name

  4. Physics

    How popcorn got its pop

    Popcorn is a popular treat. Now, scientists have learned exactly what happens as it pops. They also have come up with an experiment they hope you will try.

  5. Life

    Scientists Say: Parthenogenesis

    When a baby frog develops from an egg that’s never been fertilized, we call that parthenogenesis.

  6. These drones are for the birds

    Flying robots represent a great opportunity to observe wildlife. But if scientists want animals to behave naturally, they need to know close we can get before they disturb wild creatures. For that, researchers will need an experiment.

  7. Materials Science

    Scientists Say: Colloid

    When water hovers in the air as fog and when bits of fat disperse in water as milk, they form a type of substance called a colloid.

  8. Cookie Science 13: The deal with gluten

    To find out how to improve my gluten-free cookies, I learned a lot about what gluten does, and what other baking ingredients might take its place.

  9. Animals

    Scientists Say: Plankter

    Plankton is the word used to describe a collection of these tiny free-floating organisms. This is what you call just one.

  10. Volunteers scoop poop to learn what animals ate

    Growing human populations in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California lead predators to change their ways. To find out how, scientists are dispatching volunteers to scout out scat.

  11. Fossils

    Scientists Say: Coprolite

    Every living thing and signs of its existence — right down to their wastes — can fossilize under the right conditions. When poop fossilizes, it gets a special name.

  12. Make 2015 a year of science

    Add some science to your new year. Every month has at least one event with a STEM —science, technology, engineering or math — theme. Mark your calendars to learn and celebrate.