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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The Arctic is very sensitive to climate change. In the last 40 years, the region has warmed much more rapidly than the Earth as a whole, a new study finds. -
Climate change means more rain and higher seas, which adds up to more flooded homes. Even a small amount of water indoors can cost a lot. -
For decades, it was impossible to say that a specific weather event was caused, or even made worse, by climate change. But advanced research methods are changing that. -
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. -
Federal forecasters expect more hurricanes than usual this year. Climate change is driving larger, more destructive storms. This is the seventh year in a row with an above-average forecast. -
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. -
The U.S. promised to slash its emissions and send tens of billions of dollars to low-lying and less well-off nations. The war in Ukraine is delaying that even as the toll from climate change rises. -
The facilities are located in every state, and are threatened by floods, hurricanes and wildfires that can cause dangerous leaks and explosions, according to a federal watchdog. -
Some ecosystems have already been irreversibly altered, scientists say. And climate change is wreaking havoc on human health. -
Arctic communities have long been plagued by soot that drives snow melt and respiratory disease. Now, humans are making their mark in Antarctica.
