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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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. -
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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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.)
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Researchers say the experimental Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab represents an important advance and is likely to get FDA approval in 2023, despite some safety concerns.
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In a recent small study, the antidepressant effects of ketamine lasted longer when an intravenous dose was followed with computer games featuring smiling faces or words aimed at boosting self-esteem.
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Human brain cells in a dish have learned to play Pong, a simple video game created in the 1970s. This novel achievement is part of a larger effort to understand how brain cells learn.
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Scientists have identified a drug that appears to produce the antidepressant effects of LSD without the psychedelic side effects — at least in mice. (Story aired on ATC on Sept. 28, 2022.)
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In March, experts who advise the FDA questioned the efficacy of an experimental new drug for ALS. In September, they voted to approve it anyway.
