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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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.
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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.
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A report from doctors in Argentina raises the possibility that a mosquito pesticide could be responsible for an increase in microcephaly in Brazil. But many top scientists strongly disagree.
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He came into the hospital in bad shape. In addition to being HIV-positive, he had what looked like a malignant tumor. The tumor, it turned out, was not human.
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United Nations member states pledged Friday to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. That's defined as surviving on $1.25 per person per day. What is life really like on that amount?
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UNICEF estimates that thousands of children in West Africa have lost parents to Ebola. Convincing communities to accept and care for these children isn't always easy.
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Sierra Leoneans scramble for supplies as a three-day, countrywide lockdown approaches. International medical professionals doubt the move will do much to halt the spread of Ebola.
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Pilots and flight attendants in some countries are classified as "radiation workers" because of their extra exposure to cosmic rays. Scientists say these frequent fliers may face greater risks.
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The plague has reportedly popped up in Oregon. It's the same disease that killed millions in the Middle Ages. Only now we know how to treat it.
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Turns out that for 7,000 years, snacking on nutsedge may have helped people avoid tooth decay. But at some point, the root it lost its charm. By the 1970s, it was branded "the world's worst weed."