The Woman Who Felt No Fear

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

A group of scientists meet a very unusual woman. A key part of her brain isn’t working: the amygdala. This is the part of the brain that we think is responsible for feeling fear. And in fact, this woman does seem pretty fearless. Researchers test her fear response using some very unconventional methods, but she takes everything in stride. Then, finally, they stumble onto the one thing that makes the woman who can’t feel fear absolutely panic. We scare up some science with neuropsychologist Dr. Justin Feinstein. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/ScienceVsWomanWhoFeltNoFear In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Meet the Woman Who Felt No Fear (04:38) Fear and the Amygdala (10:27) Scientists Start Running Experiments With the Woman Who Felt No Fear (11:48) Scientists Try to Scare SM (12:59) Scientists Try to Scare Her With Snakes (16:08) Scientists Try to Scare Her with a Haunted House (19:58) The Risks of Feeling No Fear (25:46) Scientists Try a New Approach (34:20) How Breathing Too Much Carbon Dioxide Causes Fear This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman with help from Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang, and Meryl Horn. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wiley, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. Thank you to all the scientists we spoke to for this episode including, Special thanks to Joseph Lavelle Wilson and the Zukerman family. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Verses.
0:02.7	Today on the show, we are opening up a case file.
0:11.0	This is where we report on case reports, which are curious stories from the scientific nerd literature,
0:18.8	basically an end of one, a patient where something weird
0:21.9	as happened to them to go on this adventure, we have science journalist and friend of the show,
0:29.0	Joel Werner. Hello. Hello, I'm a curious nerd. This is perfect. Let's go. All right,
0:33.3	Joel, to kick us off today, can you tell me about a time that you felt afraid?
0:39.5	Very afraid.
0:40.8	Look, it's a long list.
0:42.3	My fear runs deep.
0:43.5	Really?
0:44.0	Are you afraid, he can?
0:45.2	Oh, yeah, absolutely.
0:46.2	I think the last time I felt truly afraid was when I found out how many people
0:50.1	listened to podcasts at double speed.
0:53.1	What's wrong with you people?
0:55.0	This is supposed to be a fun thing.
0:56.9	You're supposed to relax.
0:58.4	Don't rush through it.
1:00.2	No, but seriously, growing up in Australia, I spent a lot of time in the ocean as a kid.
1:05.0	And it's really easy for the ocean to go from being like an idyllic, beautiful day to being a near-death experience.
1:15.1	And like I have this one memory of being at a surf beach and I had gone to the beach with some friends and we'd sort of swum out beyond the first breakers, like the shore break where the first wades crashed.
	...

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