Lauren Sommer
Lauren Sommer covers climate change for NPR's Science Desk, from the scientists on the front lines of documenting the warming climate to the way those changes are reshaping communities and ecosystems around the world.
Prior to joining NPR, Sommer spent more than a decade covering climate and environment for KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. During her time there, she delved into the impacts of California's historic drought during dry years and reported on destructive floods during wet years, and covered how communities responded to record-breaking wildfires.
Sommer has also examined California's ambitious effort to cut carbon emissions across its economy and investigated the legacy of its oil industry. On the lighter side, she ran from charging elephant seals and searched for frogs in Sierra Nevada lakes.
She was also host of KQED's macrophotography nature series Deep Look, which searched for universal truths in tiny organisms like black-widow spiders and parasites. Sommer has received a national Edward R. Murrow for use of sound, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Based at NPR's San Francisco bureau, Sommer grew up in the West, minus a stint on the East Coast to attend Cornell University.
-
By making their bodies glow, Humboldt squid illuminate the changing patterns on their bodies to communicate in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
-
It is starting to take more time for cases, hospitalizations and deaths to double in several states, indicating social distancing is working. Here's how to make sense of those numbers.
-
Weather forecast models rely on commercial airplanes for massive amounts of real-time data. With widespread flight cancellations, meteorologists are concerned.
-
With a lack of tests, epidemiologists say the next best way to monitor the pandemic is by tracking hospitalizations. But hotspots like California and Washington are releasing little information.
-
Universities around the country are revamping research labs to help process the backlog of coronavirus tests, thanks to help from student volunteers.
-
Air pollution levels have dropped dramatically as power plants and factories have slowed down — potentially saving lives. But the public health benefits aren't so simple to calculate.
-
Winters are warming faster than summers in many places, and colder parts of the U.S. are warming faster than hotter ones. The warming winter climate has year-round consequences across the country.
-
Many fruit and nut trees need cold weather to bloom, which is becoming less common in a warming climate. So, farmers and scientists are teaming up to find ways to help orchards chill out and cope.