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.
-
It's getting more common for a lot of tornadoes to form over a big area in a short period of time. But the total number of tornadoes each year in the U.S. is stable. -
Whether you get your forecast from an app on your phone, a website or a meteorologist on TV, most of the underlying information comes from the federal government. -
Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds. -
Rural communities are scrambling after the Trump administration canceled billions in disaster grants. Many were counting on the funds for infrastructure fixes meant to withstand future disasters. -
The Trump administration dismissed all the scientists working on the next National Climate Assessment. The report is the most comprehensive source of information about climate change in the U.S. -
Helene is dumping rain across the Southeast, after coming ashore as a powerful Category 4 storm. Abnormally warm water in the Gulf of Mexico helped it rapidly intensify and suck up moisture. -
Climate-driven flooding destroyed Tony Calhoun’s home in 2022. But as the water receded, his despair only grew. Now, his family hopes to bring attention to the mental health toll of extreme weather. -
High tide floods – when water collects in streets or even seeps into buildings on days without rain – are increasingly common in coastal areas as sea levels rise, a new report warns. -
Scientists knew that climate change would cause the oceans to heat up a lot. But current ocean temperatures are even higher than expected. -
Debby came ashore just west of Steinhatchee, along the state's Big Bend region. It arrived with sustained winds of 80 mph, and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of utility customers.
