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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When men put on a gut and grow love handles it's not such a bad thing, according to a Yale anthropologist. That pudge might help them reproduce and pass on longevity genes to their offspring.
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For decades, a rare disease crawled across Papua New Guinea. When scientists realized what was behind kuru, it caught everyone by surprise. But similar diseases can still be transmitted through food.
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What happens when you let loose with a juicy one? A lab of MIT mathematicians and physicists is taking a close look, with the goal of improving public health.
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Women encounter a dilemma when they get pregnant: Should they continue taking medications that keep them healthy? That question can be scary, because drugs are rarely tested for safety in pregnancy.
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Since 1979, the federal government has urged daily flossing. But the recommendation was removed recently from U.S. dietary guidelines after health advisers found the evidence of benefits to be weak.
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One in 10 U.S. adults has tinnitus. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the few interventions that have been shown to help, but it's rarely prescribed by doctors, a study finds.
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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.
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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.
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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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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.