Robert Sapolsky is a Professor at Stanford and one of the world's leading primatologists. He's best-known as a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation's prestigious "genius" grant and a best-selling author.

Sapolsky has been called "one of the best scientist-writers of our time" by Oliver Sacks and "one of the finest natural history writers around" by The New York Times. As a neuroendocrinologist, he has focused his research on issues of stress and neuron degeneration, as well as on the possibilities of gene therapy strategies for help in protecting susceptible neurons from disease.

His books include 'A Primate’s Memoir', 'The Trouble with Testosterone', 'Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers', 'Monkeyluv' and 'Other Essays on our Lives as Animals'. His articles have appeared in Discover and The New Yorker among others.

Michael Krasny is the host of the KQED radio program Forum. He is also a professor of English at San Francisco State University and the author of 'Spiritual Envy: an Agnostic’s Quest' and 'Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life'. His many interviews for City Arts & Lectures include Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Brian Greene.