The Woman Who Felt No Fear

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. 

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