Joe Palca
Joe Palca is a science correspondent for NPR. Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered a range of science topics — 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 – 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 Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us (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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The president criticized the FDA this week for not giving emergency use approval to an experimental treatment for COVID-19. Scientists argue that the therapy still lacks sufficient evidence. -
The National Institutes of Health has asked the Food and Drug Administration to delay allowing the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 because the proof of its effectiveness is weak.
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Adjuvants play a crucial role in many vaccines' effectiveness. Some scientists say there needs to be more research into developing a wider variety of adjuvants because of how important they are. -
Studies involving COVID-19 vaccine candidates in monkeys show promise of an effective vaccine, but it will take large-scale human trials to know for sure if they work.
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Two potential coronavirus vaccines started their final phase of testing Monday. Each trial will include up to 30,000 volunteers.
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A COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the U.S. company Moderna and the National Institutes of Health starts its final phase of testing. It's one of a handful of candidates to reach this stage. -
As several new COVID-19 vaccines enter human trials, multiple intelligence agencies say Russian hackers are targeting organizations developing the vaccines.
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NASA is sending a six-wheeled rover to Mars to look for signs of microbial life stored in the rocks at Jezero crater. The rover is also the first step in bringing samples of Martian rock to Earth. -
The federal government on Tuesday announced grants for the development and manufacture of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 totaling over $2 billion.
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Dr. Elias Zerhouni was head of the National Institutes of Health under President George W. Bush. He says the Trump administration's response to the pandemic has not protected the American people.
