Michaeleen Doucleff
Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. For nearly a decade, she has been reporting for the radio and the web for NPR's global health outlet, Goats and Soda. Doucleff focuses on disease outbreaks, cross-cultural parenting, and women and children's health.
In 2014, Doucleff was part of the team that earned a George Foster Peabody award for its coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. For the series, Doucleff reported on how the epidemic ravaged maternal health and how the virus spreads through the air. In 2019, Doucleff and Senior Producer Jane Greenhalgh produced a story about how Inuit parents teach children to control their anger. That story was the most popular one on NPR.org for the year; altogether readers have spent more than 16 years worth of time reading it.
In 2021, Doucleff published a book, called Hunt, Gather, Parent, stemming from her reporting at NPR. That book became a New York Times bestseller.
Before coming to NPR in 2012, Doucleff was an editor at the journal Cell, where she wrote about the science behind pop culture. Doucleff has a bachelor degree in biology from Caltech, a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Berkeley, California, and a master's degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.
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Pigs and goats likely catch it too. It's been found in humans' noses in the Southwest — and in the air at airports and at chicken farms in Malaysia. -
In response to our series on spillover viruses, you had many questions: from the role of climate change to possible benefits. We turn the mic to you for a special edition of 'Hidden Viruses.' -
Data was released briefly, then rescinded. As NPR reported previously, there is already strong evidence pointing to these animals in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. -
What's the risk of contracting a surprising virus from Fido or Kitty? It's not a frivolous question, as one virologist explains. And there's another question: Can you give a virus to your pet? -
The two brightest planets in Earth's night sky are millions of miles apart. But due to an astronomical quirk, they appear to be engaging in a cosmic dance tonight. Now that's a moment of awe. -
This evening, right after sunset, the sky will display something beautiful: the brightest planets Venus and Jupiter will come so close to each that they will almost look like they might touch.
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Two U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly support the lab leak theory — with low-to-moderate confidence. No evidence has been shared. Scientists have strong evidence of animal spillover at a market. -
The U.S. Department of Energy says with "low confidence" that COVID-19 might have originated in a lab leak. But the scientific evidence overwhelmingly points to a natural origin for the virus.
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Animals carry millions of pathogens. So it's a daunting task to find the one with the greatest potential to spark a pandemic. Now scientists are rethinking the way they hunt for that next new virus.
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In HBO's hit show "The Last Of Us," the world has been devastated by a pandemic caused by a deadly fungus. Is that even possible?
