Maria Godoy Maria Godoy is a senior editor and correspondent with NPR's Science Desk.
Maria Godoy at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., May 22, 2018. (photo by Allison Shelley) (Square)
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Maria Godoy

Allison Shelley/NPR
Maria Godoy at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., May 22, 2018. (photo by Allison Shelley)
Allison Shelley/NPR

Maria Godoy

Senior Editor/Correspondent, NPR Science Desk

Maria Godoy is a senior science and health editor and correspondent with NPR News. Her reporting can be heard across NPR's news shows and podcasts. She is also one of the hosts of NPR's Life Kit.

Along with her NPR science desk colleagues, Godoy is the winner of a 2019 Gracie Award.

Previously, Godoy hosted NPR's food vertical, The Salt, where she covered the food beat with a wide lens — investigating everything from the health effects of caffeine to the environmental and cultural impact of what we eat. Under Godoy's leadership, The Salt was recognized as Publication of the Year in 2018 by the James Beard Foundation. With her colleagues on the food team, Godoy won the 2012 James Beard Award for best food blog. The Salt was also awarded first place in the blog category from the Association of Food Journalists in 2013, and it won a Gracie Award for Outstanding Blog from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation in 2013.

Previously, Godoy oversaw political, national, and business coverage for NPR.org. Her work as part of NPR's reporting teams has been recognized with several awards, including two prestigious Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Silver Batons: one for coverage of the role of race in the 2008 presidential election, and another for a series about the sexual abuse of Native American women. The latter series was also awarded the Columbia Journalism School's Dart Award for excellence in reporting on trauma, and a Gracie Award.

In 2010, Godoy and her colleagues were awarded a Gracie Award for their work on a series exploring the science of spirituality. She was also part of a team that won the 2007 Nancy Dickerson Whitehead Award for Excellence in Reporting on Drug and Alcohol Issues.

Godoy was a 2008 Ethics fellow at the Poynter Institute. She joined NPR in 2003 as a digital news editor.

Born in Guatemala, Godoy now lives in the suburbs of Washington, DC, with her husband and two kids. She's a sucker for puns (and has won a couple of awards for her punning headlines).

Story Archive

Monday

As many as 18 million Americans may soon lose coverage and not realize it

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Thursday

Child influencers have a huge following on social media. Now a new study from the University of Connecticut's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health finds these videos are frequently exposing young viewers to junk foods like candy, salty snacks and sugary drinks. Morgan McCloy/NPR hide caption

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Morgan McCloy/NPR

Thursday

Junk food abounds on YouTube videos for kids

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Thursday

Joy Ho for NPR

Your kids are adorable germ vectors. Here's how often they get your household sick

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Wednesday

If it feels like your kid has been sick for months — here's some scientific comfort

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Monday

Encore: What makes that song swing? At last, physicists unravel a jazz mystery

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Saturday

Encore: In Appalachia, sex educators suspend their work after threats

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Wednesday

Jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman plays in 2019. Swing is an essential component of nearly all kinds of jazz music. Physicists think that subtle nuances in the timing of soloists are key to creating that propulsive swing feel. Bernd Thissen/picture alliance via Getty Image hide caption

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Bernd Thissen/picture alliance via Getty Image

What makes that song swing? At last, physicists unravel a jazz mystery

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Saturday

In Appalachia, one group of sex educators is harassed into pausing its work

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Tuesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Misinformation about abortion targets Spanish speakers, galvanizing Latino voters

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Latina immigrants may be exposed to Spanish-language disinformation about abortion

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Sunday

Catholic health care systems can limit access to birth control. Rich Pedroncelli/AP hide caption

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Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Catholic health care's wide reach can make it hard to get birth control in many places

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Thursday

Oberlin College students worry Catholic directives could affect contraception access

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Monday

Getting contraception gets complicated for patients at Catholic hospitals

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Wednesday

Americans will soon be able to buy hearing aids without a prescription

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Tuesday

Hearing aids could be available over the counter as soon as October

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Wednesday

A conceptual illustration of a double stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule with mutation in a gene. Kateryna Kon/Getty Images/Science Photo Library hide caption

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Kateryna Kon/Getty Images/Science Photo Library

Friday

Plan B is one brand of the emergency contraceptive levonorgestrel, which works by delaying ovulation. It is sold over the counter at pharmacies, but is often kept in locked boxes or is only accessible by asking a pharmacist. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Wednesday

When confronted with a spider-like 3-D model, jumping spiders freeze and back away slowly, especially if the model has eyes. Daniela Roessler hide caption

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Daniela Roessler

Tuesday

The 2021 study found that 32% of pharmacies did not have levonorgestrel, a hormone that can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex, in stock at all, and of the pharmacies that did have it on the shelf, 70% of them kept it in a locked box. Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images

Sunday

Where to find emergency contraception now that Roe is gone

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Thursday

Photo Illustration by Becky Harlan/NPR