Rob Stein
Rob Stein is a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk.
An award-winning science journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Stein mostly covers health and medicine. He tends to focus on stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. He tracks genetics, stem cells, cancer research, women's health issues, and other science, medical, and health policy news.
Before NPR, Stein worked at The Washington Post for 16 years, first as the newspaper's science editor and then as a national health reporter. Earlier in his career, Stein spent about four years as an editor at NPR's science desk. Before that, he was a science reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Boston and the science editor of the international wire service in Washington.
Stein's work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. He was twice part of NPR teams that won Peabody Awards.
Stein frequently represents NPR, speaking at universities, international meetings and other venues, including the University of Cambridge in Britain, the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, and the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.
Stein is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed a journalism fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, a program in science and religion at the University of Cambridge, and a summer science writer's workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
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New estimates show the U.S. is on track to see a big rise in cases and more than triple the number of deaths by October. -
Fully vaccinated Olympic athletes and members of Congress have tested positive for the virus. Should you be worried? How common are breakthrough infections, and are they rising?
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The CDC released new estimates showing the highly contagious delta variant now accounts for more than 51% of cases in the U.S. In some parts of the country, the strain is responsible for 80% of cases.
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More contagious than other variants, and maybe more likely to cause severe disease, Delta is spreading so fast in the U.S. it could cause another surge this summer or fall, according to new research.
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The CDC will now track only cases of breakthrough infections in which COVID-19 vaccines fail on people who get hospitalized or die. But critics say that's shortsighted and cuts off valuable data.
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An influential scientific society has recommended scrapping a long-standing taboo on studying human embryos in lab dishes beyond 14 days and greenlighted a long list of other sensitive research.
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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says the age that routine screening begins for colorectal cancer should drop from 50 to 45. Colorectal is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.
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An international team has put human cells into monkey embryos in hopes of finding new ways to produce organs for transplantation. But some ethicists still worry about how such research could go wrong.
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The variant known as B.1.1.7, which is more easily spread, was first identified in England last fall. Since then, it has spread quickly in the U.S.
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The answer, experts say, depends on how Americans behave in the next several weeks and how quickly vaccines get in arms.
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Many public health experts are now increasingly optimistic about how the pandemic is playing out in the U.S. Here's what they say we can expect for the rest of 2021.
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These structures made from living human cells are similar to human embryos at the stage when they implant in the womb. They allow scientists to research new ways to treat infertility.
