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 Jun 14
Could carbon capturing make ‘clean coal’ a reality?Coal is still very much at the center of the debate on the future of energy. For some, the holy grail is a new type of technology that captures some coal carbon emissions. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien joins Judy Woodruff…
Science May 03
How mountaintop mining affects life and landscape in West VirginiaDeep layers of underground coal are all but gone in West Virginia after 200 years of relentless mining, leaving thinner seams of coal on top of the state's beautiful mountains. But surface mining carries a huge cost: nothing less than…
Science Apr 19
Scientists dive into the political frayIs the scientific community finding its political voice? As the March for Science approaches, science correspondent Miles O’Brien meets with researchers who are venturing into the political fray to keep their profession alive.
Science Apr 05
Why finding a solution to control Lyme disease isn’t simpleTicks are by far the biggest disease vector in the U.S., and Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the northern hemisphere, causing neurological problems and even permanent cognitive and sensory impairment if not treated. Science correspondent Miles…
Science Mar 08
How scientists are tracking a massive iceberg in the makingAntarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf is disappearing section by section. A fast-growing rift, one of the largest ever seen, is now teetering on the edge of breaking away from the glacier. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien explores how scientists have tracked the…
Science Jan 25
Why psychedelic drugs are having a medical renaissanceFor C.J. Hardin, an Army veteran, dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder is an everyday feat. After years of pills and therapy failed to help his disorder, Hardin knew he needed an alternative. So he turned to a surprising substitute that's…
Science Oct 26
Cracking the stealth political influence of botsAmong the millions of real people tweeting about the presidential race, there are also a lot accounts operated by fake people, or “bots.” Politicians and regular users alike use these accounts to increase their follower bases and push messages. Science…
Science Jun 14
After life in captivity, dolphins to undergo sea changeChesapeake, a 24-year-old bottlenose dolphin at the Baltimore National Aquarium, has always lived indoors in a concrete tank. But she and the seven others in her pod are destined for a sea change. The aquarium plans to build a natural…
Science Mar 13
The heroes of Fukushima Dai-ichi, but don’t call them thatHe was a shift supervisor on duty on March 11, 2011 when the earthquake and nuclear meltdown occurred in Japan, and by all accounts performed heroically inside a pitch dark control room at a nuclear power plant that was melting…
Science Jun 12
The real killer in the Ebola epidemicSome disasters are more transparent than others. As we departed JFK airport on our way to Brussels and ultimately Freetown, Sierra Leone, we flew right over the Rockaways and Broad Channel, NY. Photojournalist Cameron Hickey was sitting right beside me.
