Bethany Brookshire

Brookshire completed a BA (Philosophy) and BS (Biology) at the College of William & Mary in 2004.[1][2] She earned a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2010, where she worked on ritalin and the serotonin switch with Sara Jones.[3][4] She began blogging about science in 2008, during her graduate studies.[5] She wrote under the pseudonym "SciCurious" for Discover[6] and The Guardian.[7][8][9] She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, where she used social media to discuss the brain and psychiatric illness.[10] Here she worked with Irwin Lucki identifying the mechanisms of antidepressants in action.[11]

In 2013, Brookshire began blogging in her own name.[12] Today she writes Eureka!Lab for Science News for Students, and for SciCurious for Science News.[13][14] She presents the podcast Science for the People, as well as appearing on other science related shows.[15][16] She appeared on the Story Collider in 2015, a show which tells the stories of scientists, where Brookshire discussed her quest for a mentor.[17][18] In May 2016 she published Science Blogging: The Essential Guide with Christie Wilcox and Jason Goldman.[19]

She has written for Slate,[20] Scientific American,[21] and The Open Notebook.[22]

Her most recent book, Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains, was published in December 2022 by Ecco. It focuses on the topic of human-animal interactions.[23]

• 2009 – Synapse Award from Wake Forest School of Medicine[24]
• 2009 – PLoS ONE Blog Pick of the Month for December
• 2012 – Society for Neuroscience Next Generation Award[25][10]
• 2011 – 3 Quarks Daily Science Writing Award[26]
• 2014 – Sloan Foundation Writing Grant[27]
• 2016 – Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory Logan Science Journalism Fellow[28]
• 2019 – Knight Science Journalism Fellowship[29]