Robert Sapolsky is a Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya. As a neuroendocrinologist, he has focused his research on issues of stress and neuron degeneration, as well as on the possibilities of gene therapy strategies for help in protecting susceptible neurons from disease. A MacArthur Fellow, Sapolsky has been called “one of the best scientist-writers of our time” by Oliver Sacks and “one of the finest natural history writers around” by The New York Times. His books include A Primate’s Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, Monkeyluv and Other Essays on our Lives as Animals. His articles have appeared in Discover and The New Yorker among other prestigious publications.
MICHAEL KRASNY is the host of the KQED radio program Forum. He is also a professor of English at San Francisco State University and the author of Spiritual Envy: an Agnostic’s Quest and Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life. His many interviews for City Arts & Lectures include Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Brian Greene.