Bullies have long been seen as cowards who respond to family problems or innate sociopathy by picking on others. It’s possible, however, that bullying isn’t a troubled response but an active process that protects the body. Duke University followed 1,000 subjects at different points in their lives, starting when they were nine years old and ending with them in their mid-twenties. Within these subjects, the researchers identified bullies, bullying victims, and people who were both or neither. The “pure bullies,” over time, had the lowest levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a substance associated with inflammation and heart disease.You might think that the bullies were simply naturally healthy and picked on the frailest among them. According to the researchers, however, this is not the case—even correcting for other variables, the bullies later developed lower CRP levels. According to one theory, this means that people are evolutionarily wired toward bullying to stimulate their own health.