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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Each year more than 600,000 babies die of sepsis. Researchers have found a simple way to prevent it: Feed babies probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables. -
The technical term is diastasis recti, and it affects many new moms. The growing fetus pushes apart the abdominal muscles, and the separation often stays open. But science suggests this fix can work. -
We invited readers to tell us how their culture helps moms become breast-feeding pros. The stories we received are so wonderful, we couldn't wait to share them. We even heard from a few dads! -
The "marshmallow test" is a famous experiment for studying kids' self-control. For the first time, a psychologist gave the test to kids outside Western culture. And they crushed it. -
The vast majority of pregnant women in the U.S. say they plan to breast-feed, but aren't told that many new moms worldwide find it tricky. Being mentored the first weeks after birth can help a lot. -
Many American women want to breast-feed — and try to. Only about half keep it up. It's like they've lost the instinct. One researcher thinks she's figured out why and how to get the instinct back. -
A majority of women say they want to breast-feed their babies. But only a small fraction reach that goal. Why is it so hard? Maybe the secrets of breast-feeding are in the past.
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Rodents, primates and bats likely carry hundreds of thousands of viruses we haven't yet identified. But how do you know which ones might infect humans? -
First she was shot at on the way to work. Then her house was destroyed by a bomb. That didn't deter this female scientist. -
The Zika outbreak in Florida is officially over. And cases are dropping across the Caribbean. But doctors say the risk to pregnant women there — whether residents or travelers — isn't gone. -
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? -
You might think a monkey is making a friendly face. The monkey, however, might have a very different message in mind.
