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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People seek out art and music that combine sadness and beauty. Scientists and artists say there's good reason why we're drawn to it. -
Why are humans attracted to art that combines sadness and beauty? A brain scientist says sadness has benefits like helping elicit empathy and purging negative emotion.
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Intensive rehabilitative therapy that starts two to three months after a stroke may be key to helping the injured brain rewire, a new study suggests. That's later than covered by many insurance plans. -
The surf is always up in Waco, Texas, thanks to an artificial wave so good it's attracting top professionals and casual riders. It's a sign of just how far the technology of wave making has come. -
Weeks after the Food and Drug Administration approved the Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm, doctors are struggling to figure out who should get the drug and how to use it safely. -
Some patients who have had COVID-19 develop symptoms resembling early Alzheimer's. Researchers are trying to figure out whether these people are more likely to develop the disease itself. -
A plaque-busting Alzheimer's drug called Aduhelm has yet to prove it can preserve memory and thinking. Even so, its approval by the Food and Drug Administration is making some patients opitimistic. -
After a stroke, people often lose dexterity in one hand. Now, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized a device that can restore function by encouraging the brain to rewire. -
This is the first new drug approved for Alzheimer's disease since 2003. It's the first to show significant progress against the sticky brain plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. -
The FDA has until Monday to decide whether to approve the first new Alzheimer's drug in nearly two decades. Two big studies of the drug produced conflicting results.
