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- Fundamentals of Evolution and Medicine
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50 min
1. Evolutionary medicine- Prof. Randolph Nesse
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38 min
2. Evolution and medicine: from the perspective of an evolutionary biologist- Prof. Stephen C. Stearns
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31 min
3. Developmental plasticity, evolution and the origins of disease- Dr. Mary Jane West-Eberhard
- Evolutionary Genetics
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47 min
4. Genetic variation and human disease- Dr. David Houle
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65 min
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46 min
6. Ecogenetics, evolutionary biology and human disease- Prof. Gilbert Omenn
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24 min
7. Race in genetics and medicine- Prof. Jeffrey Long
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46 min
8. Health disparities in common complex diseases: a role for genetics?- Dr. Kathleen Barnes
- Infectious Disease
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44 min
-
39 min
10. Evolutionary arms races- Prof. Mark Pagel
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43 min
11. Antibiotic resistance and hospital-acquired infection- Dr. Carl Bergstrom
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36 min
12. Evolution of drug resistance- Dr. Pleuni Pennings
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34 min
13. Evolution of virulence: malaria, a case study- Prof. Andrew Read
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38 min
14. Infection and chronic disease- Prof. Paul Ewald
- Defenses
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36 min
15. Fever and related defenses- Prof. Matthew Kluger
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45 min
16. The evolutionary ecology of immunity- Prof. Paul Schmid-Hempel
- Novel Environmental Factors
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39 min
17. What did humans evolve to eat? evolutionary perspectives on human nutritional health- Prof. William R. Leonard
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45 min
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42 min
19. The paleolithic lifestyle and prevention of chronic disease- Prof. S. Boyd Eaton
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49 min
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31 min
-
31 min
22. Diseases of civilization: an evolutionary legacy- Prof. Alan Weder
- Problems Arising From Constraints and Trade-Offs
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51 min
23. Aging and evolutionary medicine- Prof. Linda Partridge
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45 min
24. Human aging and menopause- Prof. Kristen Hawkes
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32 min
25. Why we cook with spices: preventative darwinian medicine- Prof. Paul Sherman
- Sex and Reproduction
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32 min
26. Setting the second stage: the evolution of menopause & post-reproductive life- Prof. Lynnette Sievert
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44 min
27. Evolutionary obstetrics- Prof. Wenda Trevathan
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41 min
28. Sex differences in mortality- Dr. Daniel Kruger
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46 min
29. The endocrinology of human life history transitions- Prof. Peter Ellison
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43 min
30. Genetic conflicts in human pregnancy- Prof. David Haig
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57 min
31. Environmental effects on human reproduction- Prof. Gillian Bentley
- Cancer
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54 min
32. A darwinian eye view of cancer- Prof. Mel Greaves
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56 min
33. Viruses and cancer- Prof. Robin Weiss
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38 min
34. Connecting aging and cancer through the lens of evolution- Prof. James DeGregori
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44 min
35. Evolutionary dynamics in cancer control and cure- Dr. Bob Gatenby
- Specific Body Systems
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44 min
36. Hard tissue biology in human health and evolution: enamel biology- Prof. Timothy Bromage
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19 min
37. Hard tissue biology in human health and evolution: bone biology- Prof. Timothy Bromage
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46 min
38. Hard tissue biology in human health and evolution: craniofacial biology- Prof. Timothy Bromage
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26 min
39. Hard tissue biology in human health and evolution: life history and chronobiology- Prof. Timothy Bromage
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53 min
40. Lung biology and lung disease- Prof. John S. Torday
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30 min
41. The evolutionary web of life- Prof. John S. Torday
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32 min
42. Evolutionary considerations and the endothelium- Dr. William Aird
- Mental Disorders
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38 min
43. Evolutionary psychiatry- Prof. Randolph Nesse
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48 min
44. Evolutionary behavioural genetics and mental disorders- Dr. Matthew Keller
- Questions and Answers
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57 min
45. Audience questions about evolution and medicine- Prof. Randolph Nesse
- Paediatrics
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41 min
46. Evolutionary pediatrics- Dr. Paul Turke
- Microbiome
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49 min
47. Evolution, the microbiome, and human health- Dr. Joe Alcock
- Archived Lectures *These may not cover the latest advances in the field
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42 min
48. The hygiene hypothesis- Prof. Graham Rook
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26 min
49. Mapping motivations: evolutionary health promotion- Dr. Valerie Curtis
- Dr. Robert Aunger
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16 min
50. Evolutionary biology of depression- Prof. Lewis Wolpert
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52 min
51. Evolutionary genetic epidemiology- Prof. Nicholas Schork
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65 min
52. Mental disorders in the light of evolutionary biology- Prof. Randolph Nesse
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59 min
53. Evolution: medicine's missing basic science- Prof. Randolph Nesse
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47 min
54. Environmental effects on human reproduction- Prof. Gillian Bentley
Printable Handouts
Navigable Slide Index
- Introduction
- The goal of evolutionary/Darwinian medicine
- Medicine uses some evolution
- But much is missing
- Some general principles
- General principles corrected
- Schools that include topic in medical curriculum
- Evolutionary biology faculty in medical schools
- Gertrude Stein on her deathbed
- Volnerability of the body and natural selection
- Natural selection is too weak to improve the body
- The new answer
- The dawn of Darwinian medicine
- A picture of George Williams
- Disease and evolution
- An example: the eye
- First half of medical school: an organ of perfection
- In the clinic: a botched design
- Designing a better body in one afternoon
- Natural selection
- Two kinds of explanation
- Two complementary explanations
- Tinbergen's 4 questions
- Tinbergen's 4 questions organized
- Four questions about honeycreeper beaks
- The 30 cm spur of the star orchid and the moth
- Darwinian medicine
- How is evolution useful for medicine?
- Direct applications in the clinic?
- Evolution and medicine - branches
- Why we get sick
- Evolutionary questions about disease
- Six reasons why diseases exist
- 1. Mismatch
- Atheroma
- Cholesterol levels
- Breast cancer
- Genetic "quirks"
- Myopia
- Mean negative affect scores vs. BDNF genotype
- Hygiene hypothesis
- Signals of recent selection
- BP, genes, latitude and environment
- 2. Competition with other organisms
- Streptococcal infection
- Antibiotic resistance of 480 soil bacterial isolates
- Virulence
- 3. Every trait is a trade-off
- Malaria in Melanesia
- Alpha + thalassemia protects against malaria
- Gout syndrome: uric acid crystals in joints
- Billirubin: highly toxic compound, then why?
- 4. Constraints
- Terrestrial whales
- Path dependence
- 5. Health is not selection's goal
- Senescence and pleiotropy
- The strength of selection
- Force of selection against senescence
- If mortality stayed at early adulthood rates
- The vulnerable sex
- Male to female mortality ratio
- Developmental pleiotropy a prediction
- 6. Defenses and suffering
- Charles Darwin
- Defenses vs. defects
- Defense regulation
- The smoke detector principle (1)
- What if the cue is unreliable?
- How loud should the noise be before you run?
- Optimal response threshold
- Should you flee from a noise?
- A threat and response
- Being killed greatly decreases future fitness
- Panic disorder
- The smoke detector principle (2)
- A phylogeny of emotions
- A conclusion about defenses
- Six reasons for vulnerability
- Main conclusions
- Some of many implications
- Overall conclusion
- The state of Darwinian medicine
- www.EvolutionAndMedicine.org
Topics Covered
- How evolution is useful to medicine
- Why doctors don't know evolution
- The body: perfect and pathetically flawed
- Proximate and evolutionary explanations
- Explain vulnerability, not diseases
- Six reasons for vulnerability
- Darwinian medicine growing fast
Talk Citation
Nesse, R. (2007, October 1). Evolution: medicine's missing basic science [Video file]. In The Biomedical & Life Sciences Collection, Henry Stewart Talks. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.69645/BTGJ4205.Export Citation (RIS)
Publication History
Financial Disclosures
- Prof. Randolph Nesse has not informed HSTalks of any commercial/financial relationship that it is appropriate to disclose.
