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 EPA plans to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are used in refrigerators and air conditioners. When HFCs are released into the atmosphere, they are extremely good at trapping heat. -
Climate and health policies rely on scientific expertise. But the federal science workforce has been shaped by decades of political interference, underfunding and race and gender bias.
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The U.S. plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically in the next decade. Scientists say it's crucial that the U.S. succeed. Still, many of the positive effects won't arrive for decades.
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The computer model that predicts the weather is getting more power. Climate change is upping the stakes for forecasters as extreme weather gets more common and residents demand earlier warnings.
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Scientists on five continents are hunting for geological evidence to pinpoint exactly when humans became a major force shaping life on Earth. But settling on the date could unleash a larger debate.
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More than 4 million homes face substantial risk of expensive flood damage, a research organization says. Communities where flood insurance is already unaffordable face potentially catastrophic damage.
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Texas allows companies to sell electricity at wholesale prices. When the price of electricity skyrocketed last week, that meant exorbitant bills for many residents who had been trying to save money.
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The sea level is rising more in some coastal places than in others. But why is that? It has to do with wind, currents, glaciers and even the last Ice Age.
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The average global temperatures in 2020 and 2016 were within a few hundredths of a degree. The Earth is about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer now than it was in the middle of the 20th century.
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People of color experience more air and water pollution than white people and suffer the health impacts. It has long been an underaddressed issue in the federal government.
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Overwhelmed sewers. Flooded streets. Deadly heat waves. Baltimore is one of many American cities where the costs of climate change far exceed local resources. Should oil companies pay?
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Studies based on private health data are crucial to understanding dangers posed by pollution. A new rule makes it harder for the EPA to consider many studies when setting safeguards.
