Geoff Brumfiel
Geoff Brumfiel works as a senior editor and correspondent on NPR's science desk. His editing duties include science and space, while his reporting focuses on the intersection of science and national security.
From April of 2016 to September of 2018, Brumfiel served as an editor overseeing basic research and climate science. Prior to that, he worked for three years as a reporter covering physics and space for the network. Brumfiel has carried his microphone into ghost villages created by the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. He's tracked the journey of highly enriched uranium as it was shipped out of Poland. For a story on how animals drink, he crouched for over an hour and tried to convince his neighbor's cat to lap a bowl of milk.
Before NPR, Brumfiel was based in London as a senior reporter for Nature Magazine from 2007-2013. There, he covered energy, space, climate, and the physical sciences. From 2002 – 2007, Brumfiel was Nature Magazine's Washington Correspondent.
Brumfiel is the 2013 winner of the Association of British Science Writers award for news reporting on the Fukushima nuclear accident.
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President Trump is ready to reopen America — at least the parts where coronavirus is less of a problem. How has his rhetoric throughout the crisis matched with the reality on the ground?
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Satellite imagery shared exclusively with NPR suggests that North Korea is moving ahead with plans to expand its capabilities.
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In Europe, with cases on the rise, researchers are learning more about the spread of the disease. For one, people experiencing mild symptoms appear to be able to spread the virus easily. -
The Pentagon is ending a controversial program to fund social science research. It's part of a shift from asking for academic advice toward building new weapons systems. -
Dyson's ideas often occupied a space between science fiction and science. He helped design, among other things, a nuclear reactor that could be safely operated "even in the hands of an idiot." -
Researchers have conducted a new test on antimatter — matter's weird opposite. The researchers found that anti-hydrogen atoms behave exactly the same as regular hydrogen. But many questions remain.
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The arrest of a Harvard researcher late last month has led to questions about a Chinese program to recruit American talent. Prosecutors say it's a form of economic espionage. Scientists disagree.
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A NASA investigation of Boeing's newest space capsule has found numerous software bugs that the agency says should have been found in internal testing — and not an unmanned space flight.
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The U.S. has reportedly begun patrols with the low-yield weapons, which it says are needed to counter Russia. Critics worry they increase the risk of nuclear war. -
Activity at the Imam Khomeini Space Center indicates Iran is once again attempting to send a satellite into orbit. Last year, three attempts ended in failure.
