About Miles @milesobrien
Miles O’Brien is veteran, independent journalist who focuses on science, technology and aerospace.
He is the science correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, a producer and director for the PBS science documentary series NOVA, and a correspondent for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE and the National Science Foundation Science Nation series.
For nearly seventeen of his thirty-two years in the news business, he worked for CNN as the science, environment and aerospace space correspondent and the anchor of various programs, including American Morning.
While at CNN, he secured a deal with NASA to become the first journalist to fly on the space shuttle. The project ended with the loss of Columbia and her crew in 2003 – a story he told to the world in a critically acclaimed sixteen-hour marathon of live coverage.
Prior to joining CNN, he worked as a reporter at television stations in Boston, Tampa, Albany, NY and St. Joseph, MO. He began his television career as a desk assistant at WRC-TV in Washington, DC.
O’Brien is an accomplished aviator and aircraft owner who often pilots his airplane to assignments, and is frequently called upon to explain the world of aviation to a mass audience.
He has won numerous awards over the years, including a half-dozen Emmys, and a Peabody and DuPont for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Born in Detroit and raised in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, he is based in Washington, DC. He has a son at the US Naval Academy and a daughter at Davidson College in North Carolina. He was a history major at Georgetown University.
Miles’s Recent Stories
Science Feb 28
To measure the prowess of North Korean missiles, researchers spy with open-source cluesAs North Korean missiles fly farther and more frequently under Kim Jong-un, the outside world watches warily, using a network of early-warning radar, sensors and satellites that track the test weapons in real time. In the third installment of our…
Science Feb 21
The science of measuring North Korea’s destructive nuclear power from afarThe Trump administration considers North Korea's nuclear and missile programs the top threat to American national security. How much do we really know about their nuclear devices? In the second of a series, science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on how…
Science Feb 14
This American scientist has seen North Korea’s nuclear program up closeHow advanced is North Korea's nuclear weapons program? Just ask the few Western experts who have seen glimpses of the program and its evolution, like nuclear scientist Sig Hecker, who has visited seven times and given eye-opening access to their…
Nation Jan 24
Dolphins raised in captivity will soon get a new, more natural homeThe National Aquarium in Baltimore is re-examining what counts as humane when it comes to the life of its dolphins. Facing increased disillusionment over such spectacles, the aquarium plans to move its dolphins to an enclosed outdoor sanctuary that mimics…
Nation Jan 10
Boston plans for climate change’s promise of more storms. Will it be enough?An epic nor'easter, a full moon high tide and a rising sea all conspired to swallow up Boston with an icy cold winter flood. What has been a somewhat rare event is believed in the coming years to become much…
Science Dec 20
In 2017, politics overshadowed science and scientists fought backScientists taking to the streets, enormous icebergs rupturing, a solar eclipse that captured the nation's attention and new insights into the workings of the universe. 2017 has been quite a year in science. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien joins William Brangham…
Science Dec 13
Climate change is part of California’s perfect recipe for intense wildfireLong before the current devastation in California, scientists had built a strong case linking a changing climate to more wildfires. Since hotter weather promotes drought and drought increases the chances of fire, rising temperatures have intensified the risks. Science correspondent…
Science Nov 29
For this doctor, a son’s recent death by overdose inspires his mission to rescue othersDr. Jim Baker dreaded getting that call for years: his son had fatally overdosed from opioids. He had watched Max go through the downward spiral of addiction, then recover and get sober, but a hospitalization for a car crash made…
Science Nov 15
Can humans cope with long space travel? Astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year as a guinea pigA year in space isn’t for the faint of heart. Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, author of a new book, “Endurance,” sits down with science correspondent Miles O’Brien to discuss the physical effects of a long space mission and what…
Science Nov 08
Can Cuba preserve ecosystems while profiting from tourism?As Cuba tries to open up its economy and lure western investment through tourism, environmentalists are working to prove that protection of the environment can also be a profitable pursuit. By developing the island's ecotourism, scientists hope to stimulate the…
