death dying

A Futuristic Suicide Machine Aims to End the Stigma of Assisted Dying

A prototype of the Sarco is currently on display at Venice Design.

(Exit International)


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Ron Shinkman
Ron Shinkman is a veteran journalist whose work has appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine publication Catalyst, California Health Report, Fierce Healthcare, and many other publications. He has been a finalist for the prestigious NIHCM Foundation print journalism award twice in the past five years. Shinkman also served as Los Angeles Bureau Chief for Modern Healthcare and as a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Business Journal. He has an M.A. in English from California State University and a B.A. in English from UCLA.
“Coming Back from the Dead” Is No Longer Science Fiction

A man receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

(Photo credit: spkphotostock/Adobe)


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Sam Parnia
Dr. Sam Parnia MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, where he directs the Critical Care and Resuscitation Research Science Center. One of the world's leading experts on cardiac arrest resuscitation, post-cardiac arrest syndrome, and the scientific study of death, Dr. Parnia’s research focus is on developing new methods to save the lives and brains of patients who undergo cardiac arrest, as well as shedding light on what happens to our brains when we die. He also founded and directed the Human Consciousness Project, which featured an international consortium of scientists and physicians researching the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the brain during cardiac arrest. Dr. Parnia is also the author of two popular books, “What Happens When We Die?” and The New York Times bestseller, “Erasing Death: The Science that is Rewriting the Boundaries between Life and Death.”
Dadbot, Wifebot, Friendbot: The Future of Memorializing Avatars

In 2015, about a year before he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, John Vlahos posed for a picture with his son, James.

(Courtesy James Vlahos)


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James Vlahos
James Vlahos is the author of TALK TO ME: How Voice Computing Will Transform the Way that We Live, Work, and Think (Houghton Mifflin, March 26, 2019). Covering the business, technological, and cultural ramifications of the voice revolution, the book has been described by readers such as Wired editor-in-chief Nicholas Thompson as "brilliant and essential." Vlahos is also the creator the Dadbot, a conversation-making program that shares the personality and life story of his late father, and of an Alexa skill, The Voice Computing Book. Vlahos contributes to the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Popular Science, The Atlantic, and GQ.
Viv: A Short Story

A rendering of a female cyborg.

(© the_lightwriter/Fotolia)
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Fawaz Al-Matrouk
Fawaz Al-Matrouk is a Kuwaiti writer-director based in San Francisco. His short films have played in festivals worldwide, including Cannes, Dubai, and Clermont-Ferrand, winning awards for writing, directing, and audience choice. He completed a BA in history at the University of Toronto and MFA in cinematic arts at the University of Southern California. He is now writing to direct a feature debut with support from SFFILM Rainin Grant and the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program.
The Death Predictor: A Helpful New Tool or an Ethical Morass?

A senior in hospice care.

(© bilderstoeckchen/Fotolia)


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Karen Weintraub
Karen Weintraub, an independent health and science journalist, writes regularly for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American and other news outlets. She also teaches journalism at Boston University, MIT and the Harvard Extension School, and she's writing a book about the history of Cambridge, MA, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
These Sisters May Change the Way You Think About Dying

Anita Freeman, left, hugs her sister Elizabeth Martin at a bakery in Huntington Beach, California, in 2009 — a year before Elizabeth's cancer diagnosis. (Courtesy Anita Freeman)

(Courtesy Anita Freeman)


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Susan Kreimer
Susan Kreimer is a New York-based freelance journalist who has followed the landscape of health care since the late 1990s, initially as a staff reporter for major daily newspapers. She writes about breakthrough studies, personal health, and the business of clinical practice. Raised in the Chicago area, she holds a B.A. in Journalism/Mass Communication and French, with minors in German and Russian, from the University of Iowa and an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.