Meredith Rizzo
Meredith Rizzo is a visuals editor and art director on NPR's Science desk. She produces multimedia stories that illuminate science topics through visual reporting, animation, illustration, photography and video. In her time on the Science desk, she's reported from Hong Kong during the early days of the pandemic, photographed the experiences of the first patient to receive an experimental CRISPR treatment for sickle cell disease and covered post-wildfire issues from Australia to California. In 2021, she worked with a team on NPR's Joy Generator, a randomized ideas machine for ways to tap into positive emotions following a year of life in the pandemic. In 2019, she photographed, reported and produced another interactive visual guide exploring how the shape and size of many common grocery store plastics affect their recyclability.
Her video work has included science explainer videos on the physics of bullets to how long you can be contagious with the flu, and an animated series on the science of invention. As an art director, she helped build NPR's network of freelance illustrators and animators, growing the community through NPR's Illustration Tumblr. She has also art directed for three seasons of the NPR podcast Invisibilia.
Rizzo holds a master's degree in New Media Photojournalism from Corcoran College of Art + Design and a bachelor's degree in photography from Wolverhampton University in the U.K. Prior to joining NPR in 2013, she photographed artifacts from the Library of Congress' collections, contributing to a public archive of more than 150,000 images over four years.
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In the year since Paradise, Calif., was devastated by fire, certain flame-tinged objects — scorched pottery fragments or remnants of toys — have become talismans of resilience beyond pain. -
In rural communities, loneliness and lack of social connection are taking a toll on the elderly and young alike. One group in Minnesota is trying to solve the problem by connecting the generations. -
Across the West, hundreds of communities are vulnerable to wildfires. But wildfire and recovery experts warn that the impulse to re-create what was there before disaster is misguided and dangerous. -
The 2018 Camp Fire destroyed 90% of the town of Paradise, Calif., and killed 85 people. Should the federal government jump in to rebuild communities at high risk of future disasters? -
At a recent fashion show, models came out about their diagnoses — revealing both cancer's scarring effects on their bodies, and their defiant embrace of life. -
They had always been partners, in a way — artists who connected through their work. So, when Gene DiRado began withdrawing from the world, his son rushed toward him — and brought along a camera. -
For the first time in years, Delta County in western Colorado is experiencing population growth, one indicator that rural Americans are increasingly feeling optimistic about their economic future. -
How much damage a bullet does when fired at the human body hinges on physics. Our latest "Let's Talk" video shows and explains why certain types of ammunition cause greater havoc than others.
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In this episode of the Invisibilia podcast, our hosts explore how it feels to be "in between," including the story of one woman who spends so much time daydreaming that it interferes with her life.
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Finally getting out from under the flu? Just because you're feeling better doesn't mean you can't get other people sick. You can spread the flu for longer than you might think.
