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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2023 was the hottest year on record by a significant margin, according to official European Union temperature data.
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Global temperatures soared past previous records in 2023, according to new data from the European Union. Nations must slash fossil fuel emissions to avoid even higher temperatures, scientists warn. -
2023 was the hottest year ever recorded. That might make you feel sad, or angry. Or perhaps anxious, or guilty. Those feelings are normal, and you have a few options for how to react to them.
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There are hundreds of U.S. neighborhoods where the population is declining due to flood risk, a new study suggests. Climate change drives flooding from heavy rain and sea level rise. -
Saleemul Huq influenced U.N. climate talks immensely over the years, by spotlighting what wealthy countries owe to less-developed nations. He died at 71, shortly before this year's COP28 talks began.
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The planet is on track for less warming now than it was when the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, but it's still not enough to avoid catastrophic impacts.
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The stakes have never been higher, as the planet rounds out its hottest year ever recorded. The U.N.'s secretary-general is challenging leaders to get serious about cutting planet-warming gasses.
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Climate change costs tens of billions of dollars each year, hurts Americans' health and disrupts everyday life, including how we work, eat, play and mourn, according to a major new assessment. -
New Jersey offers a potential blueprint for densely populated states that are grappling with increased flooding due to climate change.
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Towns across the U.S. want to stop building homes that are vulnerable to climate-driven disasters, like wildfires, floods and droughts. It's easier said than done.
