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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Ghostly particles called neutrinos can travel nearly unimpeded across the universe. For the first time, physicists have been able to pinpoint the origin of a powerful neutrino. -
Scientists can't say whether there is, or ever was, life on the Red Planet. But two Martian rock samples contained organic molecules — which contain carbon, the chemical element central to life. -
Engineers in California are working on a new test that could offer a fast, cheap way to see if people are infected with the parasite.
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Researchers have evidence supporting the existence of plumes of water shooting up from the interior of Jupiter's icy moon Europa. -
The NASA mission is set to launch Saturday morning. The InSight spacecraft will land in the Elysium Planitia to listen for "Marsquakes" and learn more about what Mars is made of. -
Lung surfactant coats tiny air sacs in the lung. Without it, every breath is a struggle, like blowing up millions of little balloons. With surfactant, breathing is as easy as blowing soap bubbles. -
The heat shield, made of material that is as light as balsa wood but can withstand temperatures of nearly 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, broke during testing earlier this month. -
A California tech firm believes that artificial intelligence can help communities prepare for, and respond to, quakes. -
The new plane will test technologies to reduce the loud boom planes make when they break the sound barrier. -
NASA is building a new space-based laser communication that will allow live, high-definition video from Mars and beyond — something that's not possible with standard radio equipment.
