Joe Palca
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a range of science topics — everything from biomedical research to astronomy. He is currently focused on the eponymous series, "Joe's Big Idea." Stories in the series explore the minds and motivations of scientists and inventors. Palca is also the founder of NPR Scicommers – A science communication collective.
Palca began his journalism career in television in 1982, working as a health producer for the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC. In 1986, he left television for a seven-year stint as a print journalist, first as the Washington news editor for Nature, and then as a senior correspondent for Science Magazine.
In October 2009, Palca took a six-month leave from NPR to become science writer in residence at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Palca has won numerous awards, including the National Academies Communications Award, the Science-in-Society Award of the National Association of Science Writers, the American Chemical Society's James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Prize, and the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Writing. In 2019, Palca was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in journalism.
With Flora Lichtman, Palca is the co-author of Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us (Wiley, 2011).
He comes to journalism from a science background, having received a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he worked on human sleep physiology.
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Scientists hope a machine can do what a person can't: quickly analyze every physical and chemical aspect of the coronavirus and sift through the world's drugs for subtle clues that might prove useful. -
Though COVID-19 has captured the headlines, influenza places a huge burden on the health care system. This year's flu shot provides good protection, the CDC says, so do get one if you haven't already. -
The new coronavirus has spurred biotech labs in universities and companies to try to find new approaches to stopping the virus — from blocking its key enzymes to interfering with its genetics. -
Recent advances in biotech make scientists optimistic that they might have a vaccine that has passed basic tests of human safety and efficacy ready to go to clinics as soon as this fall. -
Tennessine is an extremely rare element. Only a few dozen atoms of it have ever been produced. The tale of how the first atoms of Tennessine were created is complicated. -
After the InSight lander had trouble drilling a sophisticated thermometer into the Martian surface, a Plan B also didn't work, and the instrument ended up backing itself out of the ground. -
A new technique uses the CRISPR molecule to snip away at the part of RNA viruses that allows them to spread infection by making copies of themselves. -
CubeSats are only about twice the size of a Rubik's Cube. Once dismissed as tools for students learning the principles of aerospace engineering, they're now being used for more sophisticated missions. -
Flooding from storms can sometimes lead to contamination from sewage in the drinking water supply. Scientists are trying to develop a quicker test for one troublesome contaminant: norovirus. -
Scientists are getting closer to developing a wearable patch that can measure hydration and other health markers — in sweat. The hope is it could give athletes more data to boost their performance.
