Rhaina Cohen
Rhaina Cohen is a producer and editor for Embedded, NPR's home for documentary storytelling. She's developed, produced, and edited acclaimed narrative podcast series on a wide range of issues, from abortion access to the aftermath of gun violence.
She was previously a producer and editor for the seasonal narrative shows Invisibilia, Rough Translation, and Louder Than A Riot. For years, she covered the social sciences as a producer for Hidden Brain. Cohen joined NPR as an intern for Planet Money.
She's also the author of the national bestseller, The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center. In 2024, Cohen gave a TED talk about the overlooked potential of friendship. She's written about the topic for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and TIME.
Cohen's work has been honored by numerous awards, including a National Headliner Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award, and she's received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Program and The Greater Good Science Center. Cohen was a Marshall Scholar at the University of Oxford, where she earned a master's in comparative social policy. She holds a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Northwestern University.
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Buying a home is a conventional milestone for couples. But as home prices skyrocket, many Americans are buying homes with someone who isn't their romantic partner. -
Thousands of years ago, there was a ceremony to bind close friends together as sworn siblings. Could the practice be resurrected today to strengthen modern friendships? Two women did just that. -
In the latest story in the NPR's series The Science of Siblings, we hear about a practice that dates back to ancient times that allows people to turn a friend into a sibling.
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After the shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper, the surviving staff resolve to rebuild their paper. -
Far from being "the great equalizer," COVID-19 has disproportionately sickened and killed African Americans and Latinos in the U.S. Many of the reasons for these inequalities reach back to before the pandemic began. This week, we return to a 2019 episode that investigates a specific source of racial disparities in medicine and beyond—and considers an uncomfortable solution. -
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Amidst the confusion and chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have sought out a long-trusted lifeline: the local newspaper. Though the value of local journalism is more apparent now than ever, newspapers are not thriving. They're collapsing. For many communities, this means fewer local stories and job losses. But new research suggests there's another consequence that's harder to spot — one that comes with a hefty price tag for residents. This week on Hidden Brain, we return to a 2018 episode that's acutely relevant today and ask, who bears the cost when nobody wants to pay? -
Confined to our homes, many of us are experiencing a newfound appreciation for our social relationships. What we may not realize — and what physicians and researchers have only recently started emphasizing — is the importance of these connections to our physical health. This week, we talk with former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about why he considers loneliness a matter of public health, and how we can all deepen our social ties. -
A virus is more than a biological organism. It's a social organism. Historian Nancy Bristow shares the lessons about human behavior that we can take away from a century-old pandemic.
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Death may be inescapable, but we do our best to avoid thinking about it. Psychologist Sheldon Solomon says we're not very successful though. This week on Hidden Brain, we confront how death anxiety courses through our actions, even when we don't realize it.
