Meredith Rizzo

NPR correspondent Geoff Brumfiel boards the NS Savannah, a nuclear passenger ship built in the late 1950s as part of a U.S. program to illustrate the positive uses of nuclear energy.

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Step inside the world's only nuclear-powered passenger ship — built in 1959

Geoff Brumfiel, Meredith Rizzo

The Nuclear Ship Savannah offers a snapshot of a nuclear future that never quite came to pass.

A sewage treatment plant in Norfolk, Va., is one of the sites where workers collect wastewater samples to test for COVID trends in the nearby community.

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Tracking health threats, one sewage sample at a time

Pien Huang, Meredith Rizzo

Researchers in Virginia Beach, Va., show how they test wastewater for signs of COVID-19, and how they're preparing to look for other health threats.

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The surprising science of how pregnancy begins

Selena Simmons-Duffin, LA Johnson, Meredith Rizzo

The start of pregnancy — as well as exactly when that happens — is a hot topic in some state legislatures and U.S. courts. Understanding the nuances of what happens when has never been more important.

Dropping water levels in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine have exposed fishing nets and roots of aquatic plants along the shoreline of the Dnipro river.

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Russia is draining a massive Ukrainian reservoir, endangering a nuclear plant

Geoff Brumfiel, Connie Hanzhang Jin, Jacob Fenton, Meredith Rizzo, Julian Hayda

Satellite data show water levels plummeting at the Kakhovka Reservoir. The reservoir supplies drinking water, irrigates vast tracts of farmland, and cools Europe's largest nuclear plant.

Laurie's mother, Stephanie, 75, died of COVID-19 in December. "I don't believe she was supposed to die," Laurie says. "I blame the misinformation." Stephanie had been wrapped up in a world of conspiracy theories online, which led her to refuse treatments for COVID.

NPR Headlines

Their mom died of COVID. They say conspiracy theories are what really killed her

Geoff Brumfiel, Meredith Rizzo

Stephanie was usually careful about her health and regular vaccinations. But then she got into sharing far-out videos and fringe ideas. When COVID hit, misinformation put her and her husband at risk.

NPR Headlines

Video analysis reveals Russian attack on Ukrainian nuclear plant veered near disaster

Geoff Brumfiel, Meredith Rizzo, Tien Le, Alyson Hurt

An NPR analysis of security footage and photos following the attack on Europe's largest nuclear power plant shows that many of the plant's critical safety systems were in the field of Russian fire.

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We asked how you are finding joy in the pandemic. Here are 12 surprising ideas

Suzette Lohmeyer, Meredith Rizzo

It's been two long years of COVID gloom. But NPR's readers didn't let it keep them down. From cicada tracking to open-water swimming to roller-skating squads, you share how you bring the fun.