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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People in poor countries often get little or no warning about floods, storms and other deadly weather. Local efforts are changing that, and saving lives. -
Strong winds can make it feel a lot colder than the thermometer suggests. Protect yourself by covering exposed skin and sheltering inside. -
Thousands of employees whose contracts end this year will lose their jobs, FEMA managers said at personnel meetings this week. The cuts could hobble the nation's disaster agency. -
The Atlantic hurricane season produced a normal number of storms, compared to more frequent storms in recent years. But the storms that did form were huge. -
Ahead of the holidays, NPR staffers give their recommendations for some of their favorite books of the year, covering everything from a sci-fi graphic novel to historical fiction.
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America's urban search and rescue teams are facing financial and political pressure. However, their work has never been more in demand, as weather disasters become increasingly common. -
Some of the country's highest home insurance prices are in the central U.S., a region generally considered to be protected from climate-driven disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes. -
Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money. -
The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees. -
In the wake of the deadly flash floods in Texas, state leaders are exploring whether to install more flood warning sirens. Such sirens can save lives if they're part of a larger warning system.
