Jon Hamilton

The Human Voice May Not Spark Pleasure In Children With Autism

Jon Hamilton — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:37:00 +0000

The human voice appears to trigger pleasure circuits in the brains of typical kids, but not children with autism, a Stanford University team reports. The finding could explain why many children with autism seem indifferent to spoken words.

The Stanford team used functional MRI to compare the brains of 20 children who had autism spectrum disorders and 19 typical kids.

With Epilepsy Treatment, The Goal Is To Keep Kids Seizure-Free

Jon Hamilton — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 06:55:00 +0000

Barton Holmes was 16 months old when he had his first seizure. "He was convulsing and his eyes were rolling in the back of his head," his mother, Catherine McEaddy Holmes, says. "His lips were blue. I thought he was dying."

The seizure ended in less than a minute. And by the time an ambulance arrived, Barton was back to his old self.

'Extremely Active' Atlantic Hurricane Season Predicted

Jon Hamilton — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:05:00 +0000

Unusually warm ocean temperatures and favorable wind patterns mean the Atlantic is likely to see "an active or extremely active" hurricane season this year, say officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The agency expects between seven and 11 hurricanes and as many as 20 named storms during the 2013 season, which runs from June 1 through November.

So for residents of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, "now is the time to pay attention to preparedness," NOAA's acting administrator, Kathryn Sullivan, told a news conference Thursday at the agency's new Climate Prediction

Forecasters Had Chance To Warn Moore, Okla., Before Tornado

Jon Hamilton — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Joining us now is NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton who has done a lot of reporting on tornadoes before. And, Jon, talk a bit about the path of this tornado and the destruction that it's brought.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: Well, if you look at it on the weather maps, it looks like it cut a large swath that went a few miles south of Oklahoma City, so that would have taken it right through Moore. And that's a suburban - a number of suburban communities, lot of houses, lot of schools.

Experts Agree: 'Psychiatry's Bible' Is No Bible

Jon Hamilton — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:39:00 +0000

When the American Psychiatric Association releases its new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- DSM-5 -- this weekend, lots of journalists and commentators will refer to it as "psychiatry's bible."

That's a term that makes the manual's authors and other mental experts cringe.