Nell Greenfieldboyce Nell Greenfieldboyce is a NPR science correspondent.
Nell Greenfieldboyce 2010
Stories By

Nell Greenfieldboyce

Doby Photography/NPR
Nell Greenfieldboyce 2010
Doby Photography/NPR

Nell Greenfieldboyce

Correspondent, Science Desk

Nell Greenfieldboyce is a NPR science correspondent.

With reporting focused on general science, NASA, and the intersection between technology and society, Greenfieldboyce has been on the science desk's technology beat since she joined NPR in 2005.

In that time Greenfieldboyce has reported on topics including the narwhals in Greenland, the ending of the space shuttle program, and the reasons why independent truckers don't want electronic tracking in their cabs.

Much of Greenfieldboyce's reporting reflects an interest in discovering how applied science and technology connects with people and culture. She has worked on stories spanning issues such as pet cloning, gene therapy, ballistics, and federal regulation of new technology.

Prior to NPR, Greenfieldboyce spent a decade working in print, mostly magazines including U.S. News & World Report and New Scientist.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins, earning her Bachelor's of Arts degree in social sciences and a Master's of Arts degree in science writing, Greenfieldboyce taught science writing for four years at the university. She was honored for her talents with the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists.

Story Archive

Thursday

Saturday

Astronomers spot a mysterious black hole nestled in a cluster of stars.

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5033974-e1/g-s1-10031" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

The star cluster Omega Centauri contains millions of stars. The movement of some stars suggests that an intermediate-sized black hole lies at its center. NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA hide caption

toggle caption
NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA

Astronomers spot a mysterious black hole nestled in a cluster of stars.

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5033974/g-s1-10031" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Some ants, like the Florida carpenter ant, treat the injured legs of comrades, and will even perform medical amputations when necessary. Zen Rial/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Zen Rial/Getty Images

Friday

Encore: Ant medical amputations

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5025130-e1/nx-s1-4bb73aca-3e21-42a0-a362-3eb9aa868add" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Lab experiments show that some ants will treat the injured legs of comrades, and when it's necessary will even perform medical amputations. Bart Zijlstra, UNIL hide caption

toggle caption
Bart Zijlstra, UNIL

Ants treat certain leg injuries with lifesaving amputations

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5025130/nx-s1-4e03fd9d-fce9-4332-a2ab-e11f86ed8909" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Asteroid moonlet Dimorphos as seen by NASA's DART spacecraft 11 seconds before the impact that shifted its path through space, in the first test of asteroid deflection. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/NASA hide caption

toggle caption
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/NASA

NASA asteroid simulation

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5013508/nx-s1-36621488-aa62-4046-b5ed-27419030153e" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

This adult elephant in Kenya was named "Desert Rose" by researchers, but does she have her own elephant name? George Wittemyer hide caption

toggle caption
George Wittemyer

Wild elephants may have names

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-4994426/nx-s1-b7e9573e-bbb9-4861-a3a0-20223ee19390" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wild elephants may have names that other elephants use to call them

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-4994426-e1/nx-s1-e18e451b-1760-49b9-9c45-28f7182e00b2" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

The Hubble Space Telescope in orbit in 1999, just after a servicing mission by astronauts. NASA hide caption

toggle caption
NASA

Hubble will change how it points, but NASA says 'great science' will continue

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-4992069/nx-s1-602393a2-e4ff-49ad-bcb1-d3e0abfe7eae" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

A sea otter in Monterey Bay with a rock anvil on its belly and a scallop in its forepaws. Jessica Fujii hide caption

toggle caption
Jessica Fujii

When sea otters lose their favorite foods, they can use tools to go after new ones

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1252214990/1252397440" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

NASA studies offer of a private mission to save Hubble Space Telescope

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1251750041/1251750042" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

The Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, locked in a space shuttle's cargo bay, before the final repair work ever done. NASA/JSC hide caption

toggle caption
NASA/JSC

Private mission to save the Hubble Space Telescope raises concerns, NASA emails show

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1250250249/1251955692" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

A Nazca booby in the Galápagos Islands incubates eggs with its webbed feet. Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

For birds, siblinghood can be a matter of life or death

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1248050363/1248223852" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Tuesday

Good news from Voyager 1, which is now out past the edge of the solar system

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1246682946/1246682947" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Monday

Saturday

A group of children don eclipse glasses to watch the 2017 solar eclipse at Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming. VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A lot of kids got to see the last total eclipse. What they remember may surprise you

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1242665610/1243177439" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Diamond ring effect as seen from Scottsville, Kentucky during the 2017 total solar eclipse. Philip Yabut/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Philip Yabut/Getty Images

Monday

These kids saw the last total solar eclipse in the U.S. This is how it changed them

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1242104110/1242104111" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Questions arise amid the collapse of the Key bridge in Baltimore

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1241022473/1241043548" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

A woman watches an annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023 using special solar filter glasses at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Carlos Tischler/ Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Carlos Tischler/ Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Watching a solar eclipse without the right filters can cause eye damage. Here's why

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1238944697/1239082855" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">