Rebecca Ramirez Rebecca Ramirez is the founding producer of NPR's science podcast, Short Wave.
Rebecca Ramirez, photographed for NPR, 6 June 2022, in Washington DC. Photo by Farrah Skeiky for NPR.
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Rebecca Ramirez

Farrah Skeiky/NPR
Rebecca Ramirez, photographed for NPR, 6 June 2022, in Washington DC. Photo by Farrah Skeiky for NPR.
Farrah Skeiky/NPR

Rebecca Ramirez

Supervising Producer, Short Wave

Rebecca Ramirez (she/her) is the founding producer of NPR's science podcast, Short Wave. It's a meditation in how to be a Swiss Army Knife, in that it involves a little of everything — background research, finding and booking sources, interviewing guests, writing, cutting the tape, editing, scoring ... you get the idea.

Ramirez's journey to radio producer was a happy accident. At the University of Southern California, she pursued a double major in history and neuroscience. It was fun and engaging, but with no obvious career path. She answered an ad for an internship while playing an NPR podcast, and got hired! After graduation, she began an internship for Invisibilia, NPR's podcast about the unseeable forces that control human behavior. From there, she dove head-first into a completely different job - producing daily news on Morning Edition, NPR's daily morning news magazine. After a year, she jumped at the chance to help start a new NPR podcast. Aside from the joy of the hard work, Ramirez is involved in increasing NPR's diversity, both in its journalism through source diversity efforts and on staff as a leader of the Marginialized Genders and Intersex People of Color (MGIPOC) Mentorship Program.

Ramirez hails from Florida and lives in Washington, D.C.

Story Archive

Friday

Towana Looney, 53, of Gadsden, Ala., gets ready to head into the operating room at NYU Langone Health in New York City to get a genetically modified pig kidney transplant. Joe Carrotta for NYU Langone Health hide caption

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Joe Carrotta for NYU Langone Health

Inside the operating room of a new kind of pig kidney transplant

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Wednesday

Cottbuser Ostsee lake, once the site of a mining pit, is set to be the largest artificial lake in Germany once it's completed. Willa Rubin/NPR hide caption

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Willa Rubin/NPR

How Germany's turning a mining pit into its largest artificial lake

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Tuesday

Three Mile Island was closed because it wasn't economical to operate. Now Microsoft wants it restarted in the hopes it can one day supply carbon-free energy for its datacenters. Walter Bibikow/Getty Images hide caption

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Walter Bibikow/Getty Images

Monday

KFF Health News journalist Cara Anthony has been covering racism and the ways it can affect people's health for years. The project is about two killings of Black men that happened decades apart in Sikeston, Mo.: a lynching in1942 and a police shooting in 2020. Michael B. Thomas for KFF Health News hide caption

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Michael B. Thomas for KFF Health News

Wednesday

Researchers use electron microscopes to study archaea, unicellular organisms found around the world. RichLegg/Getty Images hide caption

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RichLegg/Getty Images

Tuesday

A robot roams through rows of grapes at Cornell AgriTech's Geneva vineyards to look for signs of diseased plants. Allison Usavage/Cornell University hide caption

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Allison Usavage/Cornell University

These robots could fix grape farmers' labor woes

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Monday

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event at Snap-On Tools Corp. headquarters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., on Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Friday

Reagan Wytsalucy is a horticulturalist on a mission: Restore the Southwest peach. Levi Sim hide caption

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Levi Sim

Why the Southwest peach could make a comeback

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Thursday

(Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Wednesday

The Vertebrate Genomes Project is an international group of scientists who plan to sequence the genomes of about 70,000 species — starting with the platypus. ilbusca/Getty Images hide caption

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ilbusca/Getty Images

Tuesday

In Kelly Lambert's lab at the University of Richmond, rats are trained to drive tiny cars. Researchers are studying how that training, and the anticipation associated with it, affects their brains. University of Richmond hide caption

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University of Richmond

These scientists taught rats to drive tiny cars. Turns out, it's good for them

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Monday

When you shop, there's often a standoff in your brain between what can be described as its emotional and rational parts. BlackJack3D/Getty Images hide caption

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BlackJack3D/Getty Images

Friday

Beaked hazelnuts are a wild food native to North America. For generations, the Indigenous people of British Columbia have passed down stories of these hazelnuts as a vital food source their peoples actively planted and cultivated. Chelsey Geralda Armstrong hide caption

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Chelsey Geralda Armstrong

Wednesday

Brazil environment minister Marina Silva stands near a sign for the United Nations' COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, which came to a close Saturday. Sergei Grits/AP hide caption

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Sergei Grits/AP

Tuesday

The United Nations estimates that 40% of the world's estimated 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing by the end of the century. That includes Indigenous languages like Desano, spoken in a portion of the Amazon. Bryam Reyes Fuentes/Getty Images hide caption

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Bryam Reyes Fuentes/Getty Images

Monday

A migratory species, many monarch butterflies overwinter in Mexico. Here, some monarch butterflies are seen pollinating flowers at a butterfly sanctuary in Mexico. HegedusPeter / 500px/Getty Images hide caption

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HegedusPeter / 500px/Getty Images

Friday

Tuesday, SpaceX's rocket Starship lifted off from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas for its sixth test flight. Eric Gay/AP hide caption

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Eric Gay/AP

SpaceX wants humans on Mars. Environmentalists say it's hurting Earth

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Wednesday

Coho salmon spawn in freshwater, strike off for the open seas, trek back to the place of their birth – but researchers noticed that over the years, some would die before they could spawn. Arctic-Images/Getty Images hide caption

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Arctic-Images/Getty Images

Tuesday

A 2022 study from the Pew Research Center found that a growing number of Republicans and Democrats view the other party as dishonest, immoral and close-minded. Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption

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Jackie Lay/NPR

Monday

Traveling across multiple time zones can cause jet lag, a temporary sleep problem that happens when the body's circadian rhythm hasn't caught up to the destination time zone. Simon Marcus Taplin hide caption

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Simon Marcus Taplin

Friday

The mysterious Bathydevius caudactylus was observed by MBARI's remotely operated vehicle Tiburon in the outer Monterey Canyon off the coast of California, at a depth of approximately 1,900 meters. 2002 MBARI hide caption

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2002 MBARI

Scientists unveil decades-long research about the deep-diving 'mystery mollusc'

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Wednesday

Artistic renditions of a future Mars settlement often feature structures above ground, as seen above. But after extensive research, authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith found that any potential settlement would have to be below ground. janiecbros/Getty Images hide caption

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janiecbros/Getty Images

Tuesday

In the United States, one in every four households experiences a power outage annually. Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working on a set of drones connected to a "smart" electric grid to try to help change that. Ali Majdfar/Getty Images hide caption

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Ali Majdfar/Getty Images

One unexpected solution to electric grid blackouts: drones

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Monday

Sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles — all of these delightful delicacies are made via fermentation, the transformation of one food into another with the help of microbes. Yulia Naumenko/Yulia Naumenko | Getty Images hide caption

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Yulia Naumenko/Yulia Naumenko | Getty Images

Fermentation is behind a lot of the food you eat

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