On Demand
The therapeutic benefits of gnawing on wood, beating the crap out of somebody...and having friends
Stress can make fairy tales turn to nightmares, and
it can make an enemy of your own body. Producer Ellen Horne speaks with
Linda Thompson, famous folk singer whose voice one day flew away.
Thompson describes her rare condition, called Hysterical Dysphonia, and
how she overcame her body's silence. Dr. Robert Sapolsky explains why
certain rats get ulcers and others don't - coping mechanisms that work
for humans too. Finally we learn that nice guys can finish first - in
the baboon world that is. Alpha male baboons fight for years to
maintain their social rank, all to get the girl. It's a stressful
existence, to be sure, especially when the day finally comes that they
get knocked off their pedestal by some young upstart and fall to the
bottom of the ladder. Cruel cruel world. But here's the silver lining:
researchers have discovered that some females, rather then sitting
patiently in ringside seats, get bored with all the fighting and mate
with – you guessed it - the nice guy sitting on the bench.
»
Learn more about Dysphonia
»Linda Thompson’s: Fashionably Late
» Linda Thompson’s: Dreams Fly Away
» Dr. Robert Sapolsky’s book: A Primate's Memoir
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