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.
-
Scientists are working on boosters to deal with the possibility that current COVID-19 vaccines may eventually wear off — or the virus will mutate in ways that will evade the vaccine's protections.
-
Fresh off the first powered flight on another world, NASA's Mars 2020 mission has managed another key first that could pave the way for future astronauts. -
NASA announced that a small helicopter sent to Mars aboard the Perseverance rover took flight — the first controlled, powered flight on another planet. The helicopter took aerial photos of Mars.
-
The tiny helicopter took off and hovered briefly — the first such flight on another planet. The Perseverance rover kept tabs on the mission from a viewing point about 60 yards away. -
The CDC and FDA have asked to pause using the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after six women developed a rare blood clot condition and one died. The pause is only expected to last days.
-
The three vaccines available in the U.S. are safe and effective, but not ideal. Now, work is underway to create more convenient and potent vaccines, including a tablet and nasal spray. -
Over 100 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That number is climbing by about 3 million daily. We hear the latest information on how well the vaccines are working.
-
A viral TikTok makes vaccine science understandable and pretty funny (it's a horror film parody). NPR caught up with creator and star Vick Krishna — tech expert by day, videographer by night. -
A study of nearly 2,300 volunteers shows Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine appears to work in adolescents. There were 18 cases of COVID-19 in people who got a placebo and none in those who got the vaccine.
-
AstraZeneca was chastised by a committee charged with reviewing its COVID-19 vaccine study results. AstraZeneca claimed a vaccine efficacy of 79%, but the committee said that was using outdated data.
