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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With the back and forth on boosters from government agencies, many Americans are wondering if they really need an extra shot. Here is what the science says about who needs a booster now — and why.
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New studies look at how the mRNA vaccines affect the cells in your body in the short run and the long run. The findings are a counterpoint to concerns about waning immunity.
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New research from China suggests people infected with the delta variant have, on average, about 1,000 times more virus in their respiratory tracts than those infected with the original strain.
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If you've been feeling blah recently, you're not alone. The good news is you can retrain your brain to feel happier. Here's how to shift your mood and restore your well-being.
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For decades, Zika had been relatively innocuous. In 2015, that changed. A new study unravels the mystery of what caused thousands of cases of microcephaly.
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Studies have shown that Zika can damage a fetus's brain in the third trimester. Would there also be an impact on the brain of a newborn?
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One big part of the puzzle: Why have there been so many microcephaly cases in the northeastern tip of Brazil?
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A Canadian flight attendant had been blamed by media for years for bringing HIV to the U.S. A new study proves that's impossible. The virus that took hold came from Haiti in the early 1970s.
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It's only the fourth case of the deadly disease in the U.S. And it has doctors on an international hunt. How did a disease linked to contaminated beef in the U.K. more than a decade ago get to Texas?
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A man who flew to the U.S. from Liberia has tested positive for Ebola. He was not sick on the plane, but developed symptoms later. He is currently in isolation at a hospital in Dallas.