Ted Audio Collective

This is Ted Health, a podcast from the Ted Audio Collective,

and I'm your host Dr. Shoshona Unger Lider.

As a kid, I was drawn to playing basketball with the neighborhood boys and shied away from

tea parties and playing dress up with my sister.

I wasn't thinking about subverting gender norms. I was just

doing what was the most interesting to me. Was this nature, nurture, or something in between?

In her captivating TED Talk, human evolutionary biologist Carol Hoven invites us on a journey into the world of hormones and their surprising influence on human development. Carol's specific focus is on testosterone.

From chimpanzees to children,

Hoven explores how this powerful hormone shapes our play preferences and social dynamics.

It's a fresh perspective on childhood play that challenges our assumptions

about gender, biology, and culture.

But before we dive in, a quick break to hear from our sponsors.

And now Carol Hovene takes the TED stage.

As I look around the room, I can see, I think it's about half of you

have been exposed to high levels of a powerful chemical,

and it is circulating in your blood as we speak.

It's flowing freely through almost all of your cells,

including neurons, where it affects whether they live or die and how they grow

and function.

So this one chemical has profound and lasting effects,

not just on your body,

...