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

    Empathy for animals is all about us

    We extend our feelings to what we think animals are feeling. Often, we’re wrong. But anthropomorphizing isn’t about them. It’s about us.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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?

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. Psychology

    Caffeine gives cocaine an addictive boost

    Not only is it popular to “cut” cocaine with caffeine, the combination might be more addictive.