Joe Palca
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a range of science topics — everything from biomedical research to astronomy. He is currently focused on the eponymous series, "Joe's Big Idea." Stories in the series explore the minds and motivations of scientists and inventors. Palca is also the founder of NPR Scicommers – A science communication collective.
Palca began his journalism career in television in 1982, working as a health producer for the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC. In 1986, he left television for a seven-year stint as a print journalist, first as the Washington news editor for Nature, and then as a senior correspondent for Science Magazine.
In October 2009, Palca took a six-month leave from NPR to become science writer in residence at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Palca has won numerous awards, including the National Academies Communications Award, the Science-in-Society Award of the National Association of Science Writers, the American Chemical Society's James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Prize, and the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Writing. In 2019, Palca was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in journalism.
With Flora Lichtman, Palca is the co-author of Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us (Wiley, 2011).
He comes to journalism from a science background, having received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he worked on human sleep physiology.
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The Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory committee meets today to consider the emergency use authorization application from Johnson and Johnson for its COVID-19 vaccine.
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Variants of the coronavirus have scientists in a scramble to assess the threat and prevent more surges. Meanwhile, vaccine manufacturers are looking at developing booster shots to address variants.
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The Food and Drug Administration has released its assessment of an application from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use authorization for its vaccine. It finds the vaccine safe and effective.
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NASA released videos of the rover called Perseverance as it descended to the surface of Mars. The space agency also outlined what the rover will be doing in its first few days on Mars.
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NASA's six-wheeled rover landed successfully on Mars yesterday. NPR's Joe Palca talks about the descent and landing, and what's next for the mission.
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NASA's six-wheeled rover landed on Mars today. It touched down in a crater that housed a lake 3.5 billion years ago, in search of signs of ancient microbial life.
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After traveling nearly 300 million miles, NASA's rover is about to land on the Red Planet. It's aiming for a crater that was home to a lake 3.5 billion years ago.
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Another six-wheeled rover is about to land on Mars. NASA Perseverance's mission is headed to Jezero Crater, which once may have been a lake. It's carrying two new items: a microphone and a helicopter.
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NASA's Mars rover called Perseverance is carrying two microphones. One will be used in conjunction with a scientific instrument, but the other is there just because it's cool.
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The UAE probe arrives at Mars on Tuesday, Feb 9. Its purpose is to both study the weather on Mars as well as inspire the next generation of that country's scientists and engineers.
