Pien Huang
Pien Huang is a health reporter on the Science desk. She was NPR's first Reflect America Fellow, working with shows, desks and podcasts to bring more diverse voices to air and online.
She's a former producer for WBUR/NPR's On Point and was a 2018 Environmental Reporting Fellow with The GroundTruth Project at WCAI in Cape Cod, covering the human impact on climate change. As a freelance audio and digital reporter, Huang's stories on the environment, arts and culture have been featured on NPR, the BBC and PRI's The World.
Huang's experiences span categories and continents. She was executive producer of Data Made to Matter, a podcast from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and was also an adjunct instructor in podcasting and audio journalism at Northeastern University. She worked as a project manager for public artist Ralph Helmick to help plan and execute The Founder's Memorial in Abu Dhabi and with Stoltze Design to tell visual stories through graphic design. Huang has traveled with scientists looking for signs of environmental change in Cameroon's frogs, in Panama's plants and in the ocean water off the ice edge of Antarctica. She has a degree in environmental science and public policy from Harvard.
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Water utilities and chemical companies are mounting legal challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency's recent rule putting limits on six “forever chemicals” in drinking water.
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Around 1 in 6 U.S. adults practice yoga. The mind-body activity has grown and evolved over recent decades, into more accessible versions that reflect a current focus on mental health and mobility training, researchers say. -
For a few weeks in late spring, thousands of fireflies emerge at the Congaree National Park in South Carolina to blink in synchrony. This natural phenomenon draws thousands of visitors whose appreciation, while welcome, has led the park to institute protections for the fireflies, so their populations can live on.
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For a few weeks in late spring, thousands of fireflies emerge at the Congaree National Park in South Carolina to blink in synchrony. Scientists are trying to learn their secrets and to protect them. -
An avian flu outbreak in dairy herds has stoked tensions between the federal government and raw milk advocates. Milk testing could provide assurances and useful data, but some farmers oppose it. -
An outbreak of avian flu in dairy cow herds has resurfaced long-simmering tensions between the federal government and raw milk advocates, who downplay concerns that health officials have raised.
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Studies have found fragments of bird flu virus in about 20% of the milk supply. It's not expected to pose a threat to humans, but may indicate the outbreak is more widespread than previously thought.
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About 1,200 people die from extreme heat each year. As temperatures soar, the CDC is unveiling plans to help people deal with potentially record summer heat.
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Thousands of years ago, there was a ceremony to bind close friends together as sworn siblings. Could the practice be resurrected today to strengthen modern friendships? Two women did just that. -
PFAS chemicals have been used for decades to waterproof and stain-proof consumer products and are linked to health problems.
