I’ve written in the past about Walter Midgley, the engineer behind leaded gasoline, and his mentor, Charles Kettering, who went on to help found Memorial Sloan Kettering. Stat has captured the ironic story in more detail here: The ironic origin story behind Sloan Kettering.
“STAT gave Memorial Sloan Kettering the opportunity to comment, and they provided this response: Alfred P. Sloan Jr. and Charles F. Kettering’s shared vision to harness the latest research techniques to conquer cancer have resulted in the extraordinary leading-edge patient care, rooted in science, MSK patients receive today.”
In response to MSK’s retort, a friend wrote, “It is grammatically terrible and tone-deaf.” Could that be what is at the heart of corporate healthcare?
Neuroscientists discovered that our memories are structured using "event scripts," neural patterns formed from past experiences. These scripts help us recall details by connecting new events to familiar scenarios like restaurants or airports.
“After shuffling the cards in a standard 52-card deck, Alex Mullen, a three-time world memory champion, can memorize their order in under 20 seconds. As he flips through the cards, he takes a mental walk through a house. At each point in his journey — the mailbox, front door, staircase and so on — he attaches a card. To recall the cards, he relives the trip.
This technique, called “method of loci” or “memory palace,” is effective because it mirrors the way the brain naturally constructs narrative memories: Mullen’s memory for the card order is built on the scaffold of a familiar journey. We all do something similar every day, as we use familiar sequences of events, such as the repeated steps that unfold during a meal at a restaurant or a trip through the airport, as a home for specific details.”
From Quanta, How ‘Event Scripts’ Structure Our Personal Memories | Quanta Magazine
"The Whistleblower’s Gamble" reviews Carl Elliott's book "The Occasional Human Sacrifice," which discusses unethical medical experimentation on prisoners and marginalized groups.
“Kligman, who later admitted he felt “like a farmer seeing a fertile field for the first time” during his initial visit to the prison, was quick to realize the jail’s research opportunities and economic potential. He would go on to single-handedly transform a portion of a big city’s criminal justice system into the nation’s largest clinical trial factory, where, on any given day, hundreds of incarcerated men and women were being used as laboratory material for a bewildering array of medical experiments. In addition to testing soaps, hair dye, deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, diet drinks, and other commercial products, prisoners were also exposed to dioxin, radioactive isotopes, and chemical warfare agents. There was also the presence of an industrial-scale Phase I drug testing program prized by Big Pharma.”
From the Hedgehog Review, The Whistleblower’s Gamble
As a writer posting to screens, I am interested in what catches one’s eye.
“F-Shaped Reading means that your headline and your first sub-head matter a lot. And also, the content on the left matters more as a way to draw people into your work.
But it doesn't have to be this way. An F-shape arises because we're trying to be efficient and decide if this page is worth more of our time.”
From Sketchplanations, F-shaped Reading
Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA
Director of Medicine
Dr. Charles Dinerstein, M.D., MBA, FACS is Director of Medicine at the American Council on Science and Health. He has over 25 years of experience as a vascular surgeon.
