Lauren Silverman
Lauren Silverman is the Health, Science & Technology reporter/blogger at KERA News. She is also the primary backup host for KERA’s Think and the statewide newsmagazine Texas Standard. In 2016, Lauren was recognized as Texas Health Journalist of the Year by the Texas Medical Association. She was part of the Peabody Award-winning team that covered Ebola for NPR in 2014. She also hosted "Surviving Ebola," a special that won Best Long Documentary honors from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). And she's won a number of regional awards, including an honorable mention for Edward R. Murrow award (for her project “The Broken Hip”), as well as the Texas Veterans Commission’s Excellence in Media Awards in the radio category.
Before joining KERA, Lauren worked at NPR’s weekend All Things Considered in Washington, D.C. There, she produced national stories on everything from the politics of climate change to the future of online education. While at All Things Considered, Lauren also produced a piece on neighborhood farms in Compton, Calif., that won a National Association of Black Journalism’s Salute to Excellence Award.
As a freelance reporter, Lauren has written and recorded stories in English and Spanish for a variety of news outlets, including NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Here & Now; American Public Media’s Marketplace; Sound Medicine and Latino USA.
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NPR has been reporting on a chilling trend in technology and in love — the use of spying tools when couples split up. Are these tools legal?
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Breaking up is hard to do, and spy tools are making it even harder. According to family lawyers, scorned spouses are increasingly turning to GPS trackers and cheap spyware apps to watch an ex.
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The wet wipes industry is blossoming. But with the growth comes a problem: clogged drains. Now the fight over "flushability" is heading to court.
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Giving people who have serious mental illness peer support has proved so helpful that some states are starting to pay these peer specialists to bridge the gap when there aren't enough professionals.
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Teenage pregnancy rates have declined across the country, but some parts of Texas have made much less progress on that. Abstinence-only sex ed policies may be one reason why.
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A quarter of doctors practicing in the U.S. went to medical school elsewhere. Many of these physicians practice in parts of this country that the government says need more primary care providers.
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The agency has decided to leave kratom off its list of highly restricted drugs for now. The DEA is asking for public comment and help from the Food and Drug Administration in evaluating kratom.
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The Drug Enforcement Administration is cracking down on a plant that it says is involved in a number of deaths. Advocates say kratom can help treat opioid addiction, which is a far bigger hazard.
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Not everyone outside staring into their phones is searching for Pokémon — some people are looking for actual wildlife. The app iNaturalist is bringing together urban biologists and curious citizens.
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Trying to prevent gun violence by tying it to mental health legislation began in 1966 when a young gunman killed 16 people in Austin, Texas. But some believe the approach is misguided.