Jon Hamilton
Jon Hamilton is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. Currently he focuses on neuroscience and health risks.
In 2014, Hamilton went to Liberia as part of the NPR team that covered Ebola. The team received a Peabody Award for its coverage.
Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Hamilton was part of NPR's team of science reporters and editors who went to Japan to cover the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Hamilton contributed several pieces to the Science Desk series "The Human Edge," which looked at what makes people the most versatile and powerful species on Earth. His reporting explained how humans use stories, how the highly evolved human brain is made from primitive parts, and what autism reveals about humans' social brains.
In 2009, Hamilton received the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award for his piece on the neuroscience behind treating autism.
Before joining NPR in 1998, Hamilton was a media fellow with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation studying health policy issues. He reported on states that have improved their Medicaid programs for the poor by enrolling beneficiaries in private HMOs.
From 1995-1997, Hamilton wrote on health and medical topics as a freelance writer, after having been a medical reporter for both The Commercial Appeal and Physician's Weekly.
Hamilton graduated with honors from Oberlin College in Ohio with a Bachelor of Arts in English. As a student, he was the editor of the Oberlin Review student newspaper. He earned his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where he graduated with honors. During his time at Columbia, Hamilton was awarded the Baker Prize for magazine writing and earned a Sherwood traveling fellowship.
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The first drug found to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease has been granted full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
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Scientists have pinpointed a special part of the brain that, when stimulated, appears to produce out-of-body experiences. (Story aired on All Things Considered on July 3, 2023.)
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The Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant full approval to the Alzheimer's drug lecanemab by July 6. But access to the drug may still be limited.
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Diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's spread like a fire through the brain. Scientists think they may know how that fire starts. (Story aired on All Things Considered on June 19, 2023.)
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Researchers say they've found a way to boost memories, which could help people struggling with memory loss from Alzheimer's disease or dementia. (Story aired on All Things Considered on June 1, 2023.)
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For parents of teenagers, adolescence can be challenging, but to a brain scientist it's a time of breathtaking development. And it's a "window of opportunity" on the way to becoming an adult.
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Boys born to mothers who got COVID-19 while pregnant seem to have a higher risk of subtle developmental delays, including those associated with autism spectrum disorder.
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Scientists mapped the 548,000 connections in the brain of a fruit fly larva, but they're far from repeating the feat with a grown fruit fly. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Feb. 9, 2023.)
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A study involving prairie voles shows that oxytocin may not live up to its billing as a "love hormone" that is essential to forming enduring attachments with mates.
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The Food and Drug Administration has approved an Alzheimer's drug that appears to modestly slow down the disease. (Story aired on Weekend Edition Saturday on Jan. 6, 2023.)