Emily Kwong
Emily Kwong (she/her) is the reporter for NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. The podcast explores new discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines — all in about 10 minutes, Monday through Friday.
Prior to working at NPR, Kwong was a reporter and host at KCAW-Sitka, a community radio station in Sitka, Alaska. She covered local government and politics, culture and general assignments, chasing stories onto fishing boats and up volcanoes. Her work earned multiple awards from the Alaska Press Club and Alaska Broadcasters Association. Prior to that, Kwong produced youth media with WNYC's Radio Rookies and The Modern Story in Hyderabad, India.
Kwong won the "Best New Artist" award in 2013 from the Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition for a story about a Maine journalist learning to speak with an electrolarynx. She was the 2018 "Above the Fray" Fellow, reporting a series for NPR on climate change and internal migration in Mongolia.
Kwong earned her bachelor's degree at Columbia University in 2012. She learned the finer points of cutting tape at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in 2013.
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NPR's podcast Short Wave brings the stories of a newly identified deep sea creature, the benefits of exercise for healing our nervous system and science-backed tips for holiday eating.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Regina Barber and Emily Kwong of Short Wave about the oldest known tadpole, new proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem, and the evolutionary roots of alcohol consumption.
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NPR's Short Wave tells about an ambitious plan to protect monarch butterflies from climate change, new research about a massive ocean migration, and seven new frog species found in Madagascar.
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NPR's Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Emily Kwong of Short Wave about squid-inspired fabric, the growing height of Mount Everest, and new research into the mystery of how lightning forms.
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NPR's Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Emily Kwong of Short Wave about "scuba-diving" lizards, a trick to turn a mouse's skin transparent and whether finger counting helps kids' math skills.
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The origin of supermassive black holes has stumped scientist for a long time. They now have the answer to this question: very massive seeds.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Regina Barber and Emily Kwong of NPR's Short Wave about an ancient magma ocean on the moon, the snake problem of Florida's Everglades, and why scrolling through video clips bores us.
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Space X’s highly anticipated Polaris Dawn mission is set to launch later this summer – with an all-civilian crew. And a big part of their mission is researching how space changes the human body.
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NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Regina Barber and Emily Kwong of Short Wave about chimpanzee "conversations," oxygen from the bottom of the ocean and how a computer program may warn of rogue waves.
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NPR's Short Wave brings stories of lion brothers making a record-breaking swim in Uganda, the skincare trend among pre-teens that is worrying dermatologists, and a planet that smells like rotten eggs.