Bethany Brookshire
Staff Writer, Science News for Students, 2013–2021
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.

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All Stories by Bethany Brookshire
- Life
Women in sports are often underrepresented in science
More and more women are taking up recreational and competitive sports. But when it comes to exercise science, the studies don’t reflect that trend.
- Life
Uncertainty is stressful, but that’s not always a bad thing
Life is full of stressful, ambiguous situations. But a new study shows that the ones we can predict stress us out less, and may even help us learn.
- Tech
A storm of tweets followed Superstorm Sandy’s path
When storms hit, people hunker down and tweet. Their social media activity tracks natural disasters and their damage, a new study shows.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s how dust mites give dermatitis sufferers the itch
Dust mites can make people with eczema truly miserable. Now, scientists have figured out why they make some people scratch, and resolved a dermatological debate.
- Science & Society
Sometimes busting myths can backfire
When Neil deGrasse Tyson busted the flat-Earth myth on Twitter, he got the world’s attention. But did the myth-busting work? Or did it backfire?
- Psychology
There’s a sour side to serotonin
Serotonin has a sour side. The chemical messenger helps mice to taste sour, a new study shows.
- Health & Medicine
Low-fiber diets make gut microbes poop out
A low-fiber diet makes for low bacterial diversity in mice. A new study shows those mice can then pass a denuded microbiome on to their offspring.
- Health & Medicine
High-intensity interval training has great gains — and pain
Intense spurts of activity followed by brief rest can improve heart health, blood glucose and muscle endurance. But some question if the pain of HIIT workouts will impede the popularity.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, a promising agent pulled
DMSO was promised to cure everything from headache to the common cold. But human testing stopped in 1965.
- Science & Society
In science, a lack of replication shouldn’t kill your reputation
The proof is science is when a study is replicated. When it’s not, do scientists suffer? A new study says researchers may overestimate the negative effects.
- Psychology
Caffeine gives cocaine an addictive boost
Not only is it popular to “cut” cocaine with caffeine, the combination might be more addictive.
- Psychology
No, cheese is not just like crack
Recent news reports claimed that a study shows cheese is addictive. But the facts behind the research show cheese and crack have little in common.