Bethany Brookshire

@beebrookshire
2.8K Followers
488 Following
1.6K Posts
Science journalist, podcaster, author. Book, Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. Here for the trash pandas.
Latest workhttps://linktr.ee/BeeBrookshire
Bookhttps://www.harpercollins.com/products/pests-bethany-brookshire?variant=40262537379874
Podcastscienceforthepeople.ca
Verified byfedified.com
Bethany Brookshire2d ago
In which @roxannekhamsi.bsky.social gives me a new way to think about mutations. Not as something as something positive or negative, as some sort of curse. They simply ARE. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/beyond-inheritance-book-khamsi-mutation
‘Beyond Inheritance’ offers a new view on mutations

In her debut book, science writer Roxanne Khamsi offers a new view of mutations that’s not limited to birth and death.

Science News
Bethany Brookshire2d ago
"The District of Columbia currently has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 6.7 percent, in large part because of major reductions in the federal work force, including U.S.A.I.D., and cuts to government grants and contracts." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/us/politics/usaid-former-employees.html
A Year After U.S.A.I.D.’s Death, Fired Workers Find Few Jobs and Much Loss

People have plowed through savings, cashed out retirement funds and moved in with relatives. Former U.S.A.I.D. workers estimate that less than half have found full-time work.

The New York Times
Bethany Brookshire2d ago

Y'all I'm IN THIS STUDY!!!

Really I'm in it! I haven't been unblinded and I still don't know what I got but there's ME! Just a tiny little data point.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lyme-disease-vaccine-ticks-infection

A vaccine for Lyme disease could be on the horizon

The vaccine candidate is the furthest any shot has gotten since the last one was pulled in 2002. Scientists are testing other ways to block infection.

Science News
Bethany Brookshire2d ago

Measles is NOT "just like chickenpox". It can kill years later. This woman was so brave for coming forward with her story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/opinion/measles-child-britain-vaccination.html

Opinion | My Child Died of Measles

If more people had gotten the vaccine, she might still be here.

The New York Times
Bethany Brookshire3d ago

The way the reporting for this piece has ruined my algorithms I can't even tell you.

My feeds are now all bald dudes in backwards baseball caps in front of large mics, hyping their "living like elite athletes" when they don't believe in leg day. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-the-peptide-craze/

The science behind the peptide craze

The world of peptides has exploded in wellness circles, but the benefits of injecting these gray-market molecules rest on little clinical evidence

Scientific American
Bethany Brookshire3d ago

You're heard of toiletries yes.

But have you heard of toilet-trees?

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cloud-forest-mammals-poop-tree-hub

This tree is number one for cloud forest mammals going number two

The strangler fig is a keystone species in the tropics, providing food and shelter, and a place to poop for 17 different mammal species.

Science News
Bethany Brookshire5d ago

Hi please make this your weekend read because I ruined every single one of my social media algorithms to do this reporting.

I'm now suffering through constant side by side images of "reta face" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-the-peptide-craze/

The science behind the peptide craze

The world of peptides has exploded in wellness circles, but the benefits of injecting these gray-market molecules rest on little clinical evidence

Scientific American
Bethany Brookshire6d ago

Tree-dwelling mammals in Costa Rica head to a strangler fig when they need to take a dump.

The entire time reporting this piece I wondered if it was because you know, figs have fiber and maybe there's just a VERY constipated sloth... https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cloud-forest-mammals-poop-tree-hub

This tree is number one for cloud forest mammals going number two

The strangler fig is a keystone species in the tropics, providing food and shelter, and a place to poop for 17 different mammal species.

Science News
Bethany BrookshireApr 16

Where does a tree-dwelling mammal take a poo? A la-treen.

I'll be here all week.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cloud-forest-mammals-poop-tree-hub

This tree is number one for cloud forest mammals going number two

The strangler fig is a keystone species in the tropics, providing food and shelter, and a place to poop for 17 different mammal species.

Science News
Bethany BrookshireApr 9
"If you are a professional writer, I want you to use AI. Because this industry is competitive. I’ll take any advantage I can get. And if you want to make your writing suck, that’s all the better for me. One less person outshining me." https://defector.com/go-ahead-and-use-ai-it-will-only-help-me-dominate-you
Go Ahead And Use AI. It Will Only Help Me Dominate You. | Defector

This piece was originally published on How Things Work, a newsletter by Hamilton Nolan. If you enjoy this, or the author’s previous work covering the NFL for Defector, you should subscribe to his newsletter right now. Recently there has been a lot of commentary of the following type: BAD WRITER [touchily]: “Actually, I do use…