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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Federal forecasters expect 3 to 6 major hurricanes during the 2020 hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 1. Rising seas and a warmer climate make storms of all sizes more damaging. -
Car traffic took a big dip beginning in late March, and headlines celebrated clean air around the U.S. But an NPR analysis of EPA data tells a more troubling story. -
The agency usually provides funding for legal aid hotlines after disasters. But the White House has not approved such funding for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. -
It is very difficult for people hospitalized with COVID-19 to communicate with their families. At one medical center, psychologists are helping with some of those tough conversations.
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EMTs are offering at-home coronavirus testing in at least four cities including New York City. The goal is to test people who might not seek it out on their own, and find people who need medical care. -
More Americans are breathing unhealthy air, even though overall air pollution has decreased in recent decades. In the tug-of-war between air regulations and climate change, global warming is winning. -
The number of patients being treated on a Navy hospital ship and inside a convention center has more than doubled in the last two days, after both facilities switched to treating people with COVID-19. -
More than 14,000 people have now been hospitalized in New York City for COVID-19. But two large overflow facilities have been operating far below their capacity. -
Many states are projected to have excessive demand for ventilator machines in the coming weeks, but no state government has formally asked hospitals to prepare for difficult and complex crisis triage. -
Early on, Bay Area cities adopted social distancing restrictions to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Health officials are optimistic about what they see so far — unlike in New York City.
