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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Pfizer is seeking the FDA's permission to offer a third COVID-19 vaccine dose to those 16 and older. There's data that the vaccine's efficacy is waning and evidence that a booster can reverse that.
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After vaccination, antibody levels can help predict how much protection a COVID-19 shot offers, scientists are learning. The finding could speed up the development of future vaccines. -
The lab has access to a high-security facility that Pfizer needed to prove its COVID-19 vaccine was working. Now the scientists there are testing the vaccine's effectiveness against viral variants. -
A COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 12 is not yet available, but research is well underway and the first shot for some kids in this age group is expected in the fall, doctors say. -
The Biden administration is close to advising fully vaccinated Americans to get COVID-19 booster shots after eight months, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
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The FDA has authorized the use of a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for people with compromised immune systems. Why is the agency taking that step?
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A study of a thousand women is underway to determine when during pregnancy is the best time to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and whether infants will be protected by the vaccine once they are born.
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Scientists have been looking for some kind of marker in the blood that could be used to predict whether a COVID-19 vaccine is working or not — now, they think they have one.
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Right now, only kids 12 and older can get a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. Studies underway at multiple sites are gathering data to see if the vaccine can be given to children as young as six months.
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Breakthrough COVID-19 infections are still quite rare, but scientists are now learning more about the risks posed by the delta variant to people who are vaccinated.
