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 . 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 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 ; and a 2015 NPR Above the Fray fellow, investigating the .
Prior to working at NPR, Hersher reported on biomedical research and pharmaceutical news for Nature Medicine.
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The average global temperatures in 2020 and 2016 were within a few hundredths of a degree. The Earth is about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer now than it was in the middle of the 20th century. -
2020 and 2016 are virtually tied for the hottest year on record. That means more powerful hurricanes, more intense wildfires, less ice and longer heat waves. -
Hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves and disease outbreaks are all a preview of our hotter future. Dramatically cutting greenhouse gas emissions would help. -
The EPA does not require companies to notify federal regulators if the pandemic interferes with pollution monitoring or reporting. That leaves states alone on the front lines of pollution control. -
Federal forecasters expect 3 to 6 major hurricanes during the 2020 hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 1. Rising seas and a warmer climate make storms of all sizes more damaging. -
Under the agreement hammered out in 2015, the first day that countries can reverse the promises they made is Nov. 4, 2019. It will be another year before the American withdrawal is official. -
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its latest report on the oceans, and it's not good. The report also notes a relatively new phenomenon in the oceans: marine heat waves. -
Humanity is not on track to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Delegations from nearly 200 countries are meeting to discuss promises they made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. -
PFAS are a family of chemicals accumulating in the soil, rivers, drinking water and the human body. How much exposure to these substances in clothes, firefighting foam and food wrap is too much?
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After months of ethics scandals and investigations, the embattled Environmental Protection Agency head has resigned, the president said Thursday.
