Dr. Randolph Nesse’s presentation was not focused on evolutionary biology, but rather on evolutionary medicine, which is the field at intersection of medicine and evolution, using the basic science of evolutionary biology to find ways to prevent and treat disease. Thus, evolutionary medicine does not only focus on why some people get sick, but also asks why natural selection has left all of us with traits that make us vulnerable to disease.
Most disese persist because our bodies are not well fitted for our continuously chaging environment and pathogens evolve faster than we do. In addition to that, natural selections has its own limitations (not all deleterous traits can be eliminated and natural selection is a mechanism of “editing”, not a mechanism of “creating”). Another important aspect is that our vulnerability is the result of the tradeoffs our body had to make (maximizing reproduction even when that harms health; running efficiency in women, and birth canal size; speech and its use of a descended larynx, and increased risk of chocking). …show more content…
Our ancestors consumed much more energy in order to get food (which was also hard to find). As a result, natural selection shaped appetite regulation mechanisms to make sure that we survived times of famine.
“Why is there aging?” is question that evolutionary medicine studies. Some genes that cause aging have no selective cost in the wild; others offer advantages early in life when selection is stronger, but disrupting ageing associated genes is likely to cause problems.
Evolutionary medicine is a relatively new field but it is growing fast, gaining more and more interest due to its vast applications and the fact that it helps us answer old questions, pose new ones and provide a more natural view of