Rebecca Hersher
Rebecca Hersher 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 Justice Department says two Brazilian companies have agreed to pay more than $3.5 billion for violating U.S. bribery laws in their dealings with Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras. -
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its latest report on the oceans, and it's not good. The report also notes a relatively new phenomenon in the oceans: marine heat waves. -
Humanity is not on track to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Delegations from nearly 200 countries are meeting to discuss promises they made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. -
Home renovations can kick up dangerous dust from lead-based paint. A new report finds the Environmental Protection Agency is not adequately enforcing rules meant to protect kids from lead exposure. -
As states issue evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Dorian's arrival, many elderly people have stayed behind. That group of people can have specific challenges when it comes to evacuating.
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Evacuating away from a hurricane is difficult for elderly people who are ill, don't have access to transportation or live on a fixed income. Slow, rainy storms such as Dorian are particularly tough. -
How much damage a bullet does when fired at the human body hinges on physics. Our latest "Let's Talk" video shows and explains why certain types of ammunition cause greater havoc than others.
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Scientists need to track the history of sea temperatures precisely to model climate change. A newly discovered clue in measurements taken by sailors in the 1930s could have far-reaching implications. -
The way we produce food and manage land must change radically if humans hope to avoid catastrophic global temperature rise, according to a new report by the United Nations panel on climate change. -
The central U.S. just experienced the most widespread river flooding ever recorded there. Flood defenses in major cities largely performed well, but many smaller communities were simply overwhelmed.
