'Stress, Neurodegeneration and Individual Differences' by Robert Sapolsky

10/10/2001 The Grass Traveling Sceintist Program presents Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky of Stanford University's Dept. of Biological Sciences in a seminar sponsored by the Dept. of VCAPP and the Northern Rocky Mtn. Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. This is an outstanding talk on what I think will become the core ideas as we look at human health for our time. No longer is the issue germs but our immune system itself. Disease today is mainly about long term debilitation of our immune system. The cause? Social Isolation and lack of control. The onset - the early years when patterns are set. The cure? Improving the social networks of parents and how well they respond to stress. Until minute 52 - the talk is about how stress and the immune system work - for the scientists this is a tour de force but may drag on for the casual viewer. After minute 53, Sapolsky goes into his material on Baboons and it all becomes very real for us primates. You will see our life in a baboon context. He is funny and brilliant - find a moment when you might be reading and watch this instead/