Katia Riddle Katia Riddle is a correspondent on NPR’s science desk.
Stories By

Katia Riddle

Katia Riddle

Correspondent, Science Desk

Katia Riddle is a correspondent on NPR's science desk.

Prior to her current role, she covered public health including reproductive rights and homelessness. She won a 2024 Gracie Award for a series on reproductive rights.
Riddle is a graduate of Reed College and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and three kids.

She can be reached via encrypted message at Katia.75 on Signal.

Story Archive

Tuesday

The federal government ends funding for an ambitious AI project

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5577879/nx-s1-9500975" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin stops abortions due to rule that threatens funding

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5559860/nx-s1-9482970" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Kaomi Holmes, 10 days old, sleeps in her crib at her home in Greenville, Miss. She was delivered by emergency cesarian section and weighed 4.5 pounds at birth. Jared Ragland/for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Jared Ragland/for NPR

On the frontlines of Mississippi’s infant mortality crisis

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5558448/nx-s1-9467775" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

On the frontlines of Mississippi’s infant mortality crisis

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5545726/nx-s1-9467775" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

'It's really scary': Mississippi raises alarm as infant mortality rate rises

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5545730/nx-s1-9466556" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Historically among the highest vaccinated states, Mississippi's rates start to slip

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5542060/nx-s1-9455330" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Microgen Images/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF

Can using magnesium topically help with sleep? Medical experts are skeptical

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5529375/nx-s1-9452861" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Families depart Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis following a mass shooting there on Aug. 27. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

How to talk to kids about school shootings

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5519737/nx-s1-9432757" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Encore: WEIGHTED VESTS

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5503969-e1/nx-s1-9426001" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Maria Fabrizio/for NPR

Are weighted vests good for bones and muscle? Fact-checking a fitness trend

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5503969/nx-s1-9425053" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Monday

Women who have experienced stalking have a higher risk of heart disease, study shows

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5495504/nx-s1-9408025" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Jena Ardell/Moment RF/Getty Images

What’s the deal with claims that birth control is dangerous?

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5494736/nx-s1-9406870" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Polls show people across political lines agree that contraception should be legal and accessible. Liudmila Chernetska/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Liudmila Chernetska/iStockphoto/Getty Images

How the Trump administration is rolling back access to birth control in the U.S.

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5494710/nx-s1-9400573" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

How the Trump administration is rolling back access to birth control in the U.S.

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5493286/nx-s1-9400573" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Judge rules Trump administration cannot block Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5482978/nx-s1-9389297" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Katie Chubb, a community organizer, stands in an empty lot in Augusta, Ga., where she's been trying to open a birth center for six years. She says lack of cooperation from local hospitals has been a primary obstacle. Kendrick Brinson/For NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Kendrick Brinson/For NPR

Friday

Treatments and best practices on when to prescribe hormone therapy and what medications to use have evolved in recent years. MStudioImages/E+/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
MStudioImages/E+/Getty Images

Doctors urge FDA to remove black box warning on hormone therapy for menopause

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5477644/nx-s1-9386195" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Rising maternal mortality fuels distrust in Georgia

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5471426/nx-s1-9378628" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Birthing center in Georgia

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5465051/nx-s1-5526564-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Megan and Stephen Alger, photographed at home with their children in Augusta, Georgia. They have eight children and are expecting their ninth in December. Kendrick Brinson/for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Kendrick Brinson/for NPR

This family wants to have more babies, but not in a hospital

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5461484/nx-s1-5523504-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

A demonstrator in a wheelchair protests outside the office of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., on the proposed cuts to Medicaid on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jose Luis Magana/AP

Monday

Friday

The GOP budget bill threatens to defund Planned Parenthood

Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5455874/nx-s1-5515556-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript