Rae Ellen Bichell
Rae Ellen Bichell is a reporter for NPR's Science Desk. She first came to NPR in 2013 as a Kroc fellow and has since reported Web and radio stories on biomedical research, global health, and basic science. She won a 2016 Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award from the Foundation for Biomedical Research. After graduating from Yale University, she spent two years in Helsinki, Finland, as a freelance reporter and Fulbright grantee.
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Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf is about to lose an iceberg the size of Delaware. Scientists gathering in the U.K. are scratching their heads about why it's cracking off. -
When men put on a gut and grow love handles it's not such a bad thing, according to a Yale anthropologist. That pudge might help them reproduce and pass on longevity genes to their offspring. -
What happens when you let loose with a juicy one? A lab of MIT mathematicians and physicists is taking a close look, with the goal of improving public health.
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Women encounter a dilemma when they get pregnant: Should they continue taking medications that keep them healthy? That question can be scary, because drugs are rarely tested for safety in pregnancy. -
Flint, Mich., brought the risk of lead pipes to many people's attention, but the problems go further. Find out if lead pipes could be affecting your drinking water. -
U.S. health officials say they are now convinced that Zika virus can target the developing brain before birth, leading to a severe type of microcephaly and other brain abnormalities. -
Evidence has ping-ponged over the decades on the effects of hormone therapy on a woman's arteries. The latest study suggests a brief stint on hormones might be helpful — if given at the right time. -
Getting an accurate diagnosis is a big hurdle in the current outbreak of Zika virus. There are three kinds of tests for Zika, and each has problems. Scientists are working hard to improve diagnosis. -
Fewer people are having strokes now than decades ago. But that improvement seems to be mostly among the elderly. Young people are actually having more strokes, partly because of the rise in obesity. -
Women report more bad side effects from medicines than men do. Researchers say the discrepancy may stem in part from how biomedical research is conducted at its earliest stages in animals.
