Meet The Woman Who Can't Feel Fear (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by Theresa , Friday, January 23, 2015, 09:09

Think about the last time you felt afraid.

Was it a fear of heights?

Did you oversleep on a weekday and fear you'd get in trouble at the office?

Did you nearly walk into oncoming traffic while looking down at your phone?

In any case, you know what it feels like to feel fear.

One woman doesn't.

A new podcast called "Invisibilia," brought to you by NPR, documents this woman's story in an episode.

The woman, code-named "SM," gave her first ever interview after years of being studied by a team of researchers — her real name is concealed because researchers want to protect her from anyone who would take advantage of her inability to pick up on cues that she should be afraid.

The Washington Post reports that SM was not interviewed by the folks at NPR, but rather, one of her doctors (University of Iowa neuroscientist Daniel Tranel) who then passed along the interview to the radio station.

SM can't tell you what fear is because she's never experienced it.

"I wonder what it's like, you know, to actually be afraid of something," she told Tranel.

FULL STORY