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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NASA's Juno spacecraft traveled to 645 miles above the surface of the solar system's largest moon, Ganymede, on Monday. -
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. -
Scientists around the world are working on a way to inject vaccines painlessly. The trick is to make the needles so small. they don't interact with the nerve endings that signal pain. -
Getting a shot is a pain. But scientists are working on a way to inject a vaccine without the ouch. The solution: a patch that applies an array of microscopic needles and feels like Velcro.
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Using two different COVID-19 vaccines is a bit like giving the immune system two pictures of the virus, maybe one face-on and one in profile. -
Researchers are trying to come up with tests that can be performed using a blood sample that will determine not only whether a COVID-19 vaccine will work but also for how long. -
Fresh off the first powered flight on another world, NASA's Mars 2020 mission has managed another key first that could pave the way for future astronauts. -
The tiny helicopter took off and hovered briefly — the first such flight on another planet. The Perseverance rover kept tabs on the mission from a viewing point about 60 yards away. -
The three vaccines available in the U.S. are safe and effective, but not ideal. Now, work is underway to create more convenient and potent vaccines, including a tablet and nasal spray. -
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 — tech expert by day, videographer by night.
