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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We all think of airplanes as hotbeds for diseases. But how easily do pathogens spread on jets? Now scientists have created "Fantasy Flights" to find the risky seats. -
No, we're not talking about squatting. We're talking about a way to bend over that has nearly disappeared in our culture. And it could be one reason why back pain is so common in the U.S. -
Her story was so inspirational to readers that they literally sprung into verse, with a Dr. Seuss-inspired poem. What they created is the most joyful poem about eye worms ever written.
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The case of a Chinese woman adds to a growing list of avian flu strains to keep an eye on, including ones that are deadly and contagious. So why are there so many? -
It felt like there was an eyelash trapped in her eye. But that wasn't the problem. -
The budget would eliminate $120 million a year from an ambitious U.S. program that aims to set up an early-warning system for infectious diseases. -
In an era when many kids get a first smartphone at age 10, psychologists say the devices have turned us into Pavlov's dogs — drooling for the next notification, buzz or text. Ready to dial back? -
Mosquitoes find some people way more delicious than others. Now scientists have found a way to make you less attractive, no chemicals needed. -
There's a new fear from climate change: bacteria and viruses buried in frozen ground coming back to life as the Arctic warms up. We went digging in permafrost to find out how worried we should be.
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Just what exactly is permafrost? And what is happening now that it's warming up? To find out, we enter the Arctic Circle's secret world of ice and frozen history.
