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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The Department of Housing and Urban Development disproportionately sells homes in flood-prone areas, NPR finds. Housing experts warn that this can lead to big losses for vulnerable families. -
Underground trains are incredibly susceptible to flooding from climate-driven extreme rain and sea level rise. Cities around the world are racing to adapt their transit systems. -
Hurricane Ida rapidly gained strength right before it hit Louisiana on Sunday. Abnormally hot water in the Gulf of Mexico acted as fuel for the storm.
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Hurricane Ida rapidly gained strength right before it hit Louisiana this weekend. Abnormally hot water in the Gulf of Mexico acted as fuel for the storm. -
At least 21 people died in floods in Tennessee over the weekend. Such dangerous flash flooding is a hallmark of climate change. -
The U.N. has released the most comprehensive global climate science report ever. It is unequivocal: Humans must stop burning fossil fuels or suffer catastrophic impacts. -
Weather-wise, it's been a disastrous summer. Scientists say climate change is driving deadly weather disasters around the world, as hotter temperatures produce deeper droughts and heavier rains.
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Hundreds of scientists are meeting to finalize a landmark climate report. It's meant to guide the next decade of international climate policy, but it's unclear if politicians will act on it. -
Internal FEMA documents suggest low-income disaster survivors are less likely to receive some types of housing assistance. Critics point out there are also racial disparities in who gets help.
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The people who need help the most after disasters are least able to get it from the federal government. Internal records show that FEMA knows it has a problem. -
Buildings are concentrated in places that are likely to be hit by a disaster such as a hurricane, flood or wildfire, researchers found. That includes both urban and rural hotspots. -
Atlantic hurricane season kicks off on June 1, and it's supposed to be a slightly above average hurricane season. In the Western U.S., there's already a serious drought and elevated fire risk.
