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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Pfizer appears to have the lead in the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Results from its clinical trials could be out in a matter of weeks.
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Historically tobacco plants are responsible for their share of illness and death. But two companies are using the plants to produce proteins for a vaccine. One candidate vaccine is in clinical trials.
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A new study estimates the pandemic could cause over 400,000 deaths in the U.S. this year. It includes those who died of COVID-19 and people who died due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
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Large-scale safety and efficacy trials of experimental vaccines in tens of thousands of volunteers are underway. Answers about the trials are likely to come late this year. -
President Trump sounded upbeat after being released from the hospital, and announced in a video that people should not be afraid of the virus. His treatment regimen is not available to most people.
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The president's doctor has offered a fairly upbeat assessment of Trump's condition. But typically, only hospitalized COVID-19 patients in need of oxygen are given the drug. -
The president has been receiving a steroid, an antiviral medication and an experimental drug cocktail. He's also received supplemental oxygen.
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White House physician Sean Conley says that President Trump was doing "very well" and that the symptoms he had are resolving and improving.
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Volunteers getting the shot help determine if a candidate vaccine works. But what with social distancing and masks, scientists must discern if it's the shot or these other measures preventing illness. -
Over 100,000 people worldwide are taking part in coronavirus vaccine trials. NPR answers common questions, such as why so many people are needed and what it means to say a vaccine works.
