Robert M. Sapolsky is professor of Neuroendocrinology at Stanford University. His work focuses on three issues: (1) how a neuron dies during aging or following various neurological insults; (2) how stress can accelerate such neuron death; and (3) designing gene therapy strategies to protect endangered neurons from neurological disease.

For three months each year, Professor Sapolsky studies wild baboons in the Serengeti of East Africa. He examines what a baboon's dominance rank, social behavior and personality have to do with patterns of stress-related diseases. Why do some bodies and some psyches deal with stress better than others

Sapolsky's laboratory was among the first to document that sustained stress can damage the hippocampus, a region of the brain central to learning and memory. Their work has pinpointed a class of steroid hormones secreted from the adrenal gland during stress as critical to such neurotoxicity. Moreover, they were the first to demonstrate that these hormones impair the hippocampal neurons' chances of surviving neurological diseases including stroke and seizure.

Professor Sapolsky has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and the Klingenstein Fellowship in Neurosciences. He is the winner of the Young Investigator of the Year awards from the Society for Neuroscience, the Biological Psychiatry Society and the International Society of Psychoneuro-endocrinology. He has received an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award and the Dean's Award for Teaching.

He is also the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications, as well as the books, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: A Guide to Stress, Stress-related Disease and Coping (W.H. Freeman,1998) and The Trouble with Testosterone (Simon and Schuster, 1997)

Brian Cameron asks:
Have you ever compared primate hierarchies to human studies like the Whitehall Stress Level Study in the UK? It's interesting to note that what you're noticing in primates (from the Scientific American Frontiers segment) is also being noticed in humans, where high order people (people with high paying, high happiness etc with their jobs) (e.g.: executives, managers etc) have less stress than those in lower level jobs (e.g.: desk jobs, minimum wage jobs etc).

So I was just wondering if you've done any comparisons like this, or if you know people that have. I would be interested in reading your thoughts on this, as it complements what I have learned in my geography classes at Simon Fraser University. Thank you, and I hope to hear back from you.
Sincerely,
Brian Cameron

Sapolsky's response:
Yes, I've looked at that at length, and the non- human primate story is fairly similar to the Whitehall study, among baboons. IN a stable dominance hierarchy, it is high ranking individuals who have the least stress -- they have the most control, predictability and outlets for frustration in their lives. And, commensurate with that, their bodies show the least evidence of being stressed -- they have lower stress hormone levels, better immune function, a better cholesterol profile, better wound repair physiology, and so It seems pretty clear that if you are going to be a baboon, you don't want to be a low-ranking one.

Miguel asks:
Hello Mr. Robert Sapolsky, I watched the TV program about the animals and how they experience stress. I have a question are dogs and cats like baboons, or do they forget? I ask you this because I have two dogs that are enemies and I have to keep them away because they can kill each other. If dogs are not like humans and they do not remember how come that they want to kill each other?
I would appreciate your answer. Thank you.

Sapolsky's response:

Hi Miguel,

Both dogs and cats have very different social systems than baboons. They also don't have nearly the memory that baboons have. Therefore, if these two dogs are constantly trying to attack each other, my bet is that it is not because they remember that they dislike each other from last time. My guess is that, instead, the smell of the other dog, in the present, is a provocation in some way -- they're not remembering disliking each other; they dislike each other in the present.

Anne asks:
I was wondering how it is that we KNOW that animals such as the antelope don't have a sense of perspective about their lives being in danger (until they are hunted) I recognize that they seem to exhibit fewer sign of stress but I am interested in how you arrive at the assumption that this is because they are blissfully ignorant of the "potential" for predators. Maybe they just have different means for dealing with long- term stress? Your thoughts are appreciated.

Sapolsky's response:
Hi Anne, Those sorts of conclusions come from studies of animals in captivity, where you can get a pretty exact sense of what sort of memory spans different species have.

Albert asks:
Hello Robert, Is there any evidence that the baboons are aware of the effect of stress on their lives? Are there baboons that give up their position as leader because of the ill effects on their health?

Sapolsky's response:
I wish I knew -- these once-a-decade guys who voluntarily pick up and walk away from the dog-eat-dog competitive world are amazing to me, and I would love to understand what is going on in their heads. My guess is that they are not capable of that sort of "who needs this pressure?" introspection, but I don't know how one would figure that out. Great question.