John Colapinto

John Colapinto developed a vocal polyp when he began "wailing" with a rock group without proper warmup. He talks about the frailty and feats of the human voice. Originally broadcast Jan. 26, 2021.

New Yorker writer John Colapinto says the development of vocal structures may have been the key to humans' becoming the dominant species on the planet. His new book is This is the Voice.

David Reimer was born a boy in 1967, but after a botched circumcision, and on the advise of doctors, his sex was surgically altered and he was raised as a girl. He also had an identical twin brother. Told of his surgery at the age of 14, Reimer decided to live as a male. Reimer’s case became a landmark because of its value to the study of nature vs. nurture. He’s the subject of the new book, “As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who was Raised as a Girl” (HarperCollins) by John Colapinto. We’ll hear from Reimer and Colapinto.