Joe Palca
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a range of science topics 鈥� 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 鈥� 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 (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.
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NASA's $10 billion new telescope showed the world something remarkable today: an image of some of the first galaxies to form in the universe. -
Are vaccinated people who get COVID as likely to spread the infection as unvaccinated people? Scientists don't think so. -
A COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 12 is not yet available, but research is well underway and the first shot for some kids in this age group is expected in the fall, doctors say. -
Instead of putting genetic instructions into people whose cells then make a viral protein, the vaccines from Novavax, Medicago and Sanofi carry a spike protein payload. -
The tiny helicopter took off and hovered briefly 鈥� the first such flight on another planet. The Perseverance rover kept tabs on the mission from a viewing point about 60 yards away. -
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 鈥� tech expert by day, videographer by night. -
Volunteers getting the shot help determine if a candidate vaccine works. But what with social distancing and masks, scientists must discern if it's the shot or these other measures preventing illness. -
Several COVID-19 vaccine candidates are being tested now. But why does it take 30,000 volunteers to know if one is safe and effective? And what does it mean to say a vaccine candidate is working?
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Some of the technology behind coronavirus vaccine development dates back to the first vaccines; other techniques are much newer. Here are eight top strategies scientists are pursuing. -
While only remdesivir has been scientifically shown to help treat COVID-19, it is not a particularly effective drug. More drugs like it and fundamentally different ones are in the pipeline.
