Rebecca Hersher
Rebecca Hersher (she/her) is a reporter on NPR's Science Desk, where she reports on outbreaks, natural disasters, and environmental and health research. Since coming to NPR in 2011, she has covered the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, embedded with the Afghan army after the American combat mission ended, and reported on floods and hurricanes in the U.S. She's also reported on research about puppies. Before her work on the Science Desk, she was a producer for NPR's Weekend All Things Considered in Los Angeles.
Hersher was part of the NPR team that won a Peabody award for coverage of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and produced a story from Liberia that won an Edward R. Murrow award for use of sound. She was a finalist for the 2017 Daniel Schorr prize; a 2017 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting fellow, reporting on sanitation in Haiti; and a 2015 NPR Above the Fray fellow, investigating the causes of the suicide epidemic in Greenland.
Prior to working at NPR, Hersher reported on biomedical research and pharmaceutical news for Nature Medicine.
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Despite a statewide effort to procure and distribute coronavirus testing supplies to hospitals in New York, some facilities still don't have what they need to test patients quickly on-site.
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NPR national and science correspondents answer listener questions about why the coronavirus outbreak has been especially bad in New York City and the surrounding region.
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Spring begins at 11:50 p.m. ET on March 19 this year. It is the earliest nationwide vernal equinox since 1896. Why, you ask? Get ready for orbital mechanics and a lot of information about calendars.
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A criminal case in Houston alleges that employees at a chemical company should have prepared for the record flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
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After deadly 2009 wildfires, authorities offered to buy property to encourage people to move. Few accepted. The questions raised by Australia's experience are freshly urgent after its latest fires.
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Students, business owners, sanitation workers and doctors are all struggling to cope with the daily frustrations of living in a city of 7 million that's afraid of an outbreak of COVID-19.
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China is the epicenter of the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which has now claimed more lives than the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003. The World Health Organization continues efforts to track the virus.
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Heavy rains in eastern Australia are causing mudslides and debris flows in areas that burned. Scientists are trying to predict when and where slides are likely to happen.
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Last year's data collected by the agencies is the latest confirmation that the Earth is steadily getting hotter. The planet is now almost 1 degree Celsius warmer than it was in the mid-20th century.
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Massive Australian wildfires are sending embers high into the atmosphere. When they rain down, they can start new fires far from the original source, and some buildings are more flammable than others.
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Two major cyclones and a prolonged drought in 2019 are a reminder that Mozambique's residents are on the front lines of climate change. And they do not have all the resources they need.
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As world leaders gather for a climate summit in Madrid, some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change say they need improved forecasting tools.