My friends and I fear rejection too much, so we made "Getting Rejected from Things" punch cards. If you get rejected 10 times, your friends have to buy you an ice cream. (These became necessary after we all started using Saying No to Things punch cards.) etsy.com/listing/130733…

love a Barbie-themed summer issue

We (Sophie Gibert + I) are super excited to announce our new podcast, Bio(un)ethical! biounethical.com Today, we're releasing our first two episodes—Ep 0: Background on us + the podcast and Ep 1: An interview with Robert Steel on whether research can be too risky. 1/4

We're excited to release today our second episode of Bio(un)ethical, an interview with Govind Persad (also @govindpersad.bsky.social): "How (not) to allocate resources during a pandemic" 🎧: buzzsprout.com/2187168/135139… biounethical.com/episodes/episo… Some things Sophie Gibert and I discuss with Govind: (🧵 with clips)

Does putting a Bio(un)ethical sticker on your laptop decrease its likelihood of being stolen? You, too, can participate in this RCT. I will mail Bio(un)ethical stickers to 5 of the next 10 people who sign up to our mailing list (add your address): biounethical.com/contact

On Episode 3 of Bio(un)ethical, we interview Marie Nicolini, MD PhD about policies around medical aid in dying, particularly for people with mental illness. You can listen here, or search Bio(un)ethical on your podcasting app: biounethical.com/episodes/episo… A short clip:

Episode 4 of Bio(un)ethical is now available on all podcasting platforms! Holly Fernandez Lynch: Do IRBs do more good than harm? Sophie Gibert and I interview Holly Fernandez Lynch about evidence regarding the impact of IRBs, why it's hard to measure this, and avenues for reform. 1/2

Professor Holly Fernandez Lynch joins the hosts of Bio(un)ethical, Leah Pierson and Sophie Gibert, to discuss if IRBs do more harm than good. Listen now! bit.ly/3rIG6jR

Ep 5 of Bio(un)ethical is out: Chris Robichaud: Can we teach people to be more ethical? If ethics education works, that'd be wonderful—we could teach practitioners not to do bad stuff. If it doesn't—and evidence is lacking—are we wasting time/money + bandaiding systemic issues?

New Bio(un)ethical episode is out, and it's appropriately scary: Jeff Sebo: Why we're wrong about who matters Some things we discuss: - Why our moral circle has expanded - How we should treat animals in research - Whether/how we can help wild animals - How we should treat AIs

I really enjoyed this conversation. Leah and Sophie did a ton of prep (they read a full draft of my upcoming book on the moral circle, among other work) and had a ton of great questions and comments for me. Definitely planning to listen to future episodes of this podcast!

Episode 7 of Bio(un)ethical is out! Jennifer JS Blumenthal-Barby: Is Nudging Ethically Required? Some things we discuss: - What makes a decision good or bad - Whether it's possible *not* to nudge - How nudges can improve patients' decisions - Whether nudges disrespect autonomy

Episode 9 of Bio(un)ethical is out! Marc Lipsitch: How to Ethically Prevent the Next Pandemic We chat with Marc Lipsitch about: - What policymakers got wrong during COVID - Whether backlash was preventable - The value of research with potential pandemic pathogens - A lot more

Thank you Leah Pierson and Sophie Gibert for a great conversation!

Our final Bio(un)ethical episode of season 1 is out! Danielle Allen: Should Laypeople Make Health Policy Decisions? We talk to Danielle Allen about: 1) Pros/cons of involving laypeople in policy decisions 2) Whether deliberative processes work in a polarized society 3) A lot more

Always a great interview when the hosts ask super sharp questions. These two hosts were the best!

Check out PEA Soup blog PEA Soup Blog today through Friday for an online discussion of my paper, "The Wrong of Wrongful Manipulation," with a terrific précis by Massimo Renzo of The Dickson Poon School of Law King's College London ! peasoupblog.com/2024/03/sophie…

There are many more results in the paper, so check it out! tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10… (Feel free to email/DM me if you can't access it.) And a huge shout out to the whole VIBES team: Sophie Gibert, Leila Orszag, @_Haley_Sullivan, Rachel Fei, Govind Persad (also @govindpersad.bsky.social), and Emily Largent.

The first episode of Season 2 of Bio(un)ethical is out today! Richard Leiter: Is a better death possible? We discuss: - Why people often don't get the care they want at the end of life - Whether/how we can address this - How paternalistic doctors should be - Much more 1/2