Bethany Brookshire is an award-winning freelance science journalist who writes on human-animal conflict, ecology, environmental science, anatomy, and neuroscience. She is fascinated by the way humans perceive themselves, the environment and their place in it.
She is the author of the 2022 book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains, which The Washington Post called “a lively and fascinating work of science writing.” Her work has appeared in Science News, National Geographic, Sierra, Scientific American, Science News Explores, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, The Guardian, The Atlantic and other outlets. From 2013 to 2021, she was a staff writer with Science News magazine and Science News for Students, a digital magazine covering the latest in scientific research for kids ages 9-14.
Brookshire is also a podcast producer, writer, and host. She was the host of the podcast Science for the People, is a contributor to Our Opinions Are Correct, and is a senior producer at Voxtopica, where she produces and writes and hosts shows including Feminism NOW, the Science of Mentorship, and Transforming Tech.
In addition to writing and producing audio journalism, Bethany is a sought-after public speaker on science communication and alternative science careers. She is also interested in scifi, and is a speaker at venues such as DragonCon, AwesomeCon and more on the science of science fiction. She also teaches anatomy via short-form video on Instagram and TikTok.
Bethany has a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the College of William and Mary. She was a 2019-2020 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
All views expressed here are her own and do not represent those of her employer. Site design by Karen Wolf. Photos of Bethany by Lancer Photography.