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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Adolescence can be a challenging time, but to a brain scientist it's a marvel — a time of breathtaking development. Scientists are learning a lot about how teenagers make decisions and approach risk.
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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. -
Scientists have decoded streams of words in the brain using artificial intelligence and the data from MRI scans.
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A new study finds that when pregnant people get COVID, their male children have a greater risk of subtle neurodevelopmental effects.
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Researchers have found a system in the brain that seems to integrate control of individual muscles with a person's intentions, emotions and entire body.
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Scientists found evidence of two interleaved systems, which may help explain the connection between what's going on in our bodies and what's going on in brain areas involved in thoughts and emotions.
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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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Art can make the brain's wiring stronger, more flexible and ready to learn, say the authors of a new book, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.
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Mora Leeb was 9 months old when surgeons removed half her brain. Now 15, she plays soccer and tells jokes. Scientists say Mora is an extreme example of a process known as brain plasticity.
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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.)
