
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.
-
Most Americans have recently been affected by extreme weather and support efforts to protect against future disasters, a new survey finds. And many people suffer long-term financial problems.
-
Burning oil, coal and other fossil fuels releases plumes of tiny, dangerous particles. A new study estimates that eliminating that pollution would save about 50,000 lives in the U.S. each year.
-
Some ecosystems have already been irreversibly altered, scientists say. And climate change is wreaking havoc on human health.
-
People are likely to be confused by common terms such as "mitigation" and "carbon neutral," according to a recent study. How can scientists do a better job communicating about global warming?
-
The U.N. has released the most comprehensive global climate science report ever. It is unequivocal: Humans must stop burning fossil fuels or suffer catastrophic impacts.
-
Hundreds of scientists are meeting to finalize a landmark climate report. It's meant to guide the next decade of international climate policy, but it's unclear if politicians will act on it.
-
Cutting carbon emissions to zero in the next 30 years would save about 74 million lives this century, a new analysis estimates.
-
Internal FEMA documents suggest low-income disaster survivors are less likely to receive some types of housing assistance. Critics point out there are also racial disparities in who gets help.
-
Scientists say humans must keep global temperatures from increasing more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. The World Meteorological Organization warns that number is looming.
-
The U.S. plans to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is America's return to the international climate stage. We break it down for you.