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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Wilmer Vasquez died at just 29 years old after suffering heat illness during the hottest year on record. His brother, Yonatan, says climate change played a big role. -
Climate change means more extreme weather across the U.S. That’s a challenge for weather forecasters. -
Multiple federal and state government agencies count the number of deaths from extreme floods, wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes. They don't always agree on which deaths should be counted. -
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit an all time high in May. That trend must reverse in order to rein in climate change. -
Federal scientists work on everything from agriculture and housing to weather forecasts and electricity generation. Many worry they will face censorship if Trump wins in November. -
Mandy Messinger is one of hundreds who lose loved ones to climate-linked extreme weather each year in the U.S. Her father Craig Messinger was killed in a 2021 flash flood in the Philadelphia suburbs. -
The National Hurricane Center is predicting an extremely active 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1.
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The National Hurricane Center is predicting the largest number of storms ever forecast for the Atlantic, putting tens of millions of Americans at risk. -
Forecasters say most of the U.S. is set to have a hotter summer, and 2024 will be one of the five hottest years ever recorded. Meanwhile, hot water in the Atlantic means more fuel for hurricanes.
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Floods, wildfires and hurricanes can have long-term financial consequences for college-age people. As climate change makes disasters more common, more and more students are struggling.
