I had a distinct memory of sitting in Professor Ichiro Kawachi’s classroom in Boston as he presented some striking data about obesity rates in high-risk communities and asking myself, Could this be related to cortisol? Is it possible that the daily threat of violence and homelessness breathing down your neck is not only associated with poor health but potentially the cause of it? It occurred to me, horribly, that people living in crowded public housing in Chicago might not be all that different from tadpoles living in a shrinking pond.
