top of page

April's newsletter

1. The best way to help is often just to listen, by Sophie Andrews

A 24-hour helpline in the UK known as Samaritans helped Sophie Andrews become a survivor of abuse rather than a victim. Now she's paying the favor back as the founder of The Silver Line, a helpline that supports lonely and isolated older people. In a powerful, personal talk, she shares why the simple act of listening (instead of giving advice) is often the best way to help someone in need.

2. In ICUs, a furry friend to comfort patients, by By Liz Kowalczyk

"Amid the monitor alarms and life-and-death conversations on the intensive care unit, Tucker, a very mellow Labrador retriever, rolled onto his back at the nurses’ station. Delighted staff surrounded the dog, cooing and scratching his stomach until he was whisked off for his most important job: Comforting patients like James Cawley."

Continue reading here.

When people describe areas of science, technology or medicine as natural or unnatural, often they are making claims about it being good or bad, or right or wrong. Complex ideas often underlie uses of these terms. The Council wanted to gain insight from poets to explore these ideas, and to use poetry to encourage a wider audience to engage in the debate. The Council collaborated with Apples and Snakes, England’s leading organisation for performance poetry, to commission a poet and run a poetry competition exploring ideas about naturalness in bioethics debates. Read more here.

4. Interesting New York Times articles

Book review: Putting Down the Scalpel, Picking Up the Pen, by Uzodinma Iweala

E. Wesley Ely is a physician and the Grant. W. Liddle Professor of Medicine and Critical Care at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee Valley VA GRECC, and the founder of the Vanderbilt ICU Delirium and Cognitive Impairment Study Group.

Rana Awdish is a critical care physician in Detroit, Michigan. This is her story.

The US National Institutes of Health is exploring the relationship between music and the brain.

bottom of page