Brooke Borel

Science writer, journalist, author.

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.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Calendar with deadline.

Incredible shrinking grant deadlines at the BRAIN Initiative

“A month is crazy,” says one former recipient, referring to a new funding opportunity’s timeline.

By Brendan Borrell
17 September 2026 | 4 min read

Sylvia Fogel, reshaping U.S. autism research strategy

In a wide-ranging and provocative interview, the chair of the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee shares her views on vaccines, regression, neuroimmune conditions and more.

By Brady Huggett
17 September 2026 | 1 min read
Nerve fibers from the human graft in mouse brain.

Human brain organoids flourish in emptied mouse cortex

The chimeric mice could help untangle the biology of human brain development or conditions such as autism.

By Brianna Abbott
16 September 2026 | 6 min read