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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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. -
Two women woke up to find they were blind in one eye. Then their eyesight quickly returned to normal. The likely cause? They had been gazing at their smartphone screens in the dark. -
Citing growing evidence that no amount of lead exposure is safe for kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics has called for tighter regulations on the amount of lead in house dust, water and soil. -
Syphilis cases are on the rise. The bacterium that causes the sexually transmitted disease is becoming resistant to some antibiotics. But somehow, penicillin has remained the best weapon against it. -
People are supposed to get vaccine boosters for tetanus and diphtheria once every 10 years. But researchers in Oregon say that's overkill: For adults, one booster every 30 years might be good enough.
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The medication is the only one available to prevent an infected pregnant woman from passing the disease to a fetus. Pfizer says the shortage should be over in July. -
The message about reducing the risk from the Aedes aegypti mosquito is the same today as it was 70 years ago. This time there's just a new virus involved. -
Guillain-Barre syndrome can render healthy people temporarily paralyzed. It's something you're likely to hear more about as Zika continues to spread. And for those who get it, it is one wild ride.
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One man died and five others were injured in a clinical trial in France this year. Trials like those depend on healthy people willing to take experimental medications in return for cash. -
In January, one man died and four others sustained brain injuries in the early clinical test of an experimental pain drug. Independent scientists reviewed the study to learn what went wrong.
