ive always been interested in the history and biology of human muscle, and in recent years ive learned about some truly strange cases of petrifiactions. for example, there's the Macedonian case of a woman who was turned into a statue of roses by her husband, or the case of a Buddhist monk in Tibet who was buried alive and then emerged as a living statue. in this episode, lexman interviews richard wrangham, author of "the hot zone: animal life and human evolution in the twenty-first century" about why these cases fascinate him, and what they tell us about human civilizations.