Welcome to the Uberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.

I'm Andrew Uberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Dr. Robert Sapolsky. Dr. Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurosurgery at Stanford University.

His laboratory has worked on a large variety of topics including stress, hormones including testosterone and estrogen,

and how the different members of a given species interact according to factors like hormones, hierarchy within primate troops,

and how things like stress, reproduction, and competition impact behavior.

One of the things that makes Dr. Sapolsky's work so unique is that it combines elements from primatology, including field studies,

with human behavior, in essence, trying to unveil how humans as old world primates are controlled by different elements of our biology as well as our psychology.

Dr. Sapolsky is also a prolific author of popular books such as Wisebres Donket Alcers, the trouble with testosterone, and behave the biology of humans at our best and worst.

During the course of our discussion today, Robert also revealed to me that he is close to completing a new book entitled Determined, The Science of Life Without Free Will,

and indeed we discuss the science of life without free will during this episode.

We also discuss stress and how best to control stress and how stress controls us at both conscious and subconscious levels.

We talk about testosterone and estrogen and hormone replacement therapy and how those impact our mind, our psychology, and our interactions with others.

As with any discussion with Dr. Sapolsky, we learn about scientific mechanisms that make us who we are.

And today we also discuss tools and how we can leverage those scientific mechanisms in order to be better versions of ourselves.

I should mention that unlike most guest interviews on the Huberman Lab podcast, this one had to be carried out remotely due to various constraints.

So you may hear the occasional audio artifact. Please excuse that. We felt that the value of a conversation with Dr. Sapolsky was well worth those minor minor glitches.

And indeed the information that he delivers us is tremendously valuable, interesting, and in many cases actionable as well.

Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.

It is however part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public.

In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast.

Our first sponsor is Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an all-in-one vitamin mineral probiotic drink.

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