Brooke Borel is a science writer, journalist, and author. She’s a contributing editor at Popular Science and she has also written for the Atlantic, Slate, and PBS’s NOVA Next, among others. Her first book, Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World published in 2015.
Brooke Borel
Science writer, journalist, author.
From this contributor
Of mice and women
A new government mandate requires researchers to include females in their animal studies — or explain why they don't. What will this mean for autism research?
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IQ’s link to brain structure, function in children may be a mirage
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IQ’s link to brain structure, function in children may be a mirage
A child’s socioeconomic status, screen time and amount of sleep all show stronger associations with measures of brain structure and function, according to an imaging study of nearly 12,000 9- to 10-year-olds.
By
Natalia Mesa
11 June 2026 | 5 min read
When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 2: “You need to go to college”
With just a high school equivalency degree and struggling as a single mother, Tempest McDonald is forced to shift her priorities.
When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 2: “You need to go to college”
With just a high school equivalency degree and struggling as a single mother, Tempest McDonald is forced to shift her priorities.
By
Brady Huggett
11 June 2026 | 28 min listen
Noncoding RNA sways core autism traits in mice
Small deletions in an X-linked RNA alter social and repetitive behaviors in male mice without broadly affecting learning or memory.
Noncoding RNA sways core autism traits in mice
Small deletions in an X-linked RNA alter social and repetitive behaviors in male mice without broadly affecting learning or memory.
By
Giorgia Guglielmi
11 June 2026 | 4 min read