My biggest hero Robert Sapolsky returns to the show for an exceptionally important conversation about stress during a time where many of us have experienced the most in our life. This is an important conversation about how lack of predictability and control can lead to learned helplessness. This recipient of the MacArthur Foundation genius grant is a Professor at Stanford University holding joint appointments in several departments, including Biological Sciences, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery. In addition to everything else, he spent summers in Kenya study baboons which you can read about in his amazing book ‘A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons’ As someone who has spent years interviewing scientists, taking classes, watching talks, and reading science books, I believe Robert Sapolsky is the greatest science communicator alive. I hope you enjoy this episode. His Human Behavioral Biology class changed my life and is probably the most useful and interesting 25 hours of my life. It’s free online and I hope you have a chance to watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA His books are amazing: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers  The Trouble with Testosterone: And Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst Here is a link to the first time I was on my show: https://www.herewearepodcast.com/episodes/578adw5viwkc1bdqqv1uz0iv40usxg?rq=sapolsky And here is a really fun episode of my comedy/philosophy podcast Mind Under Matter where we dug into some of his work: https://mindunderpod.com/blogs/episodes/episode-42-behaviors-past If you want to support this show and my mission to build appreciation for science and scientists in a fun and casual way, please consider joining my lovely little Patreon community https://www.patreon.com/shanemauss Thank you for watching and being an inquisitive being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices