Chapter 4: the Science of Kindness

  https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/03/19/einstein-on-kindness/

 Figure 2 downloadable of brain 

  Rhoads SA, O'Connell K, Berluti K, Ploe ML, Elizabeth HS, Amormino P, Li JL, Dutton MA, VanMeter AS, Marsh AA. Neural responses underlying extraordinary altruists' generosity for socially distant others. PNAS Nexus. 2023 Jun 13;2(7):pgad199. 1-15

This publication investigates the neural networks to try to understand why extraordinary altruists (such as Kay Mason in Chapter 5 of the book who gave a kidney to a stranger as the UKs first altruistic donor) when most people would not do this and their results suggested that they are more generous to strangers because of the way they encode the subjective value of distant others’ welfare in a constellation of social brain regions including the amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulate gyrus. Interestingly, they were unable to replicate the neural patterns in controls using a meditation intervention. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37416875/)

https://www.blood.co.uk/news-and-campaigns/the-donor/latest-stories/meet-the-donor-kay-mason/

This is a link to the post form the NHSBT website in which Kay Mason talks about her experience. 

https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/news/tenth-anniversary-trailblazing-kidney-donor

This is a link to the Royal Free Hospital website celebrating 10 years after the first UK altruistic donor operation lead by my esteemed colleague Peter Veitch, and I was fortunate enough to be part of the surgical team involved in her groundbreaking surgery. She is an amazing lady, and it was a delight to look after her.

https://www.giveakidney.org/2012/personal-stories/donors/kay-mason/

This is a link to a video in which Kay Mason describes what helping a stranger with a donor kidney means to her and her perspective.