Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire was the staff writer at Science News for Students from 2013 to 2021. 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 is also a host on the podcast Science for the People, and a 2019-2020 MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow.

All Stories by Bethany Brookshire

  1. Science & Society

    Nobel Prizes honor great discoveries — but leave much of science unseen

    The Nobel Prize might be the most famous science prize but it celebrates just a narrow slice of science and very few scientists.

  2. Health & Medicine

    In a first, Huntington’s disease is slowed by an experimental treatment

    An experimental gene therapy slowed Huntington’s by up to 75 percent in a small clinical trial. While not a cure, it may give patients longer lives.

  3. Animals

    The phoenix isn’t the only critter to survive the flames

    There are no real phoenixes hiding anywhere. But science has revealed that some living things can take quite a bit of heat.

  4. Humans

    Forget discrete droplets. This is how sweat really forms

    The most-detailed look yet at how we perspire reveals that beads of sweat are out, puddling is in.

  5. Animals

    A dog’s taste for TV may depend on its temperament

    Anxious dogs might react nervously to some television sounds, a survey of dog owners reports, while hyper ones might try to play chase.

  6. Animals

    A newly discovered cell helps pythons poop out the bones of their prey

    The cells helps the snakes absorb the bones of their prey — and might show up in other animals that chomp their meals whole.

  7. Climate

    Climate change could separate vanilla plants and their pollinators

    The vanilla species grown for its flavoring is finicky. Genes from its wild relatives could help make it hardier — but not if those cousins go extinct.

  8. Animals

    Fewer scavengers could mean more zoonotic disease

    Scavenger populations are decreasing, a new study shows. That could put human health at risk.

  9. Plants

    A leaf’s geometry determines whether it falls far from its tree

    Shape and symmetry help determine where a leaf lands — and if the tree it came from can recoup the leaf’s carbon as it decomposes.

  10. Materials Science

    The best way to cook an egg — in 32 minutes

    It’s hard to cook both the white and the yolk of the egg to the right temperature. Scientists have found a new method, called periodic cooking.

  11. Animals

    Hotter cities? Here come the rats

    Well, rats. A study of 16 cities shows that higher ambient temperatures and loss of green space are associated with increasing rodent complaints.

  12. Animals

    Wild baboons don’t recognize themselves in a mirror

    In a lab test, chimps and orangutans can recognize their own reflection. But in the wild, baboons seemingly can’t do the same.