
Michaeleen Doucleff
Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. For nearly a decade, she has been reporting for the radio and the web for NPR's global health outlet, Goats and Soda. Doucleff focuses on disease outbreaks, cross-cultural parenting, and women and children's health.
In 2014, Doucleff was part of the team that earned a George Foster Peabody award for its coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. For the series, Doucleff reported on how the epidemic ravaged maternal health and how the virus spreads through the air. In 2019, Doucleff and Senior Producer Jane Greenhalgh produced a story about how Inuit parents teach children to control their anger. That story was the most popular one on NPR.org for the year; altogether readers have spent more than 16 years worth of time reading it.
In 2021, Doucleff published a book, called Hunt, Gather, Parent, stemming from her reporting at NPR. That book became a New York Times bestseller.
Before coming to NPR in 2012, Doucleff was an editor at the journal Cell, where she wrote about the science behind pop culture. Doucleff has a bachelor degree in biology from Caltech, a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Berkeley, California, and a master's degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.
-
Another version of omicron is spreading in Asia and parts of Europe. And it shows signs that it could be slightly more contagious than omicron. Where did this new variant come from?
-
Researchers now have the first data looking at how long that protection from a booster shot of the COVID vaccine will last and what the future of the vaccinations might be after the omicron surge.
-
There's growing evidence that omicron causes less severe disease than previous variants. Does that mean SARS-CoV-2 is evolving into a more mild virus? Will future surges be less deadly and disruptive?
-
In other countries, omicron has appeared to cause less severe illness than prior coronavirus variants. Now scientists have the first data from hospitals about what the U.S. faces with omicron.
-
The U.S. on Wednesday counted more than 480,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day. Cases increased nearly 70% over the past week, but hospitalizations have gone up only about 12%.
-
Over the next month, scientists estimate that the U.S. could face a record-breaking 400,000 new cases each day — powered by the omicron variant. Hospitalizations in some areas already are rising.
-
In many cultures around the world, parents don't need chore charts or allowances for kids to pitch in around the house. A new study shows how parents in these cultures teach children to be helpful.
-
Scientists know the omicron variant will cause many breakthrough infections. Given that omicron is now the dominant strain in the U.S., maybe it's time to rethink that booster shot.
-
Data from 78,000 South Africans with COVID show the Pfizer vaccine is far less effective in preventing infection by the omicron variant. But there is still significant protection from severe illness.
-
Scientists in South Africa have found that the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections has dropped to about 30% for the omicron variant.
-
In small studies in South Africa and in Germany, the results indicate a marked decrease in the ability of vaccines to neutralize this variant. But there are other findings that are encouraging.
-
Preliminary data out of South Africa suggest COVID vaccines are much less effective at stopping infection from the omicron variant, but there's hope the vaccines will protect against severe disease.