So why do we age? Do all organisms age? Why do larger animals in general age slower? Why do females undergo reproductive senescence (menopause) before somatic senescence (aging of the rest of the body). Why do males and females age at different rates? We will tackle some of these questions […]
For tuesday we are going to discuss extreme environments and the evolution of the innate immune system. I have included slides from a talk I gave today in Pennsylvania for you to review: WIlderness Medicine
We will not be meeting today because of the Human Biology Association meetings going on in Albuquerque. Students of the Seminar in Evolutionary Medicine are encouraged to do one of two excellent options – either attend the podium session at the HBA meeting to hear Dr. Kuzawa give another lecture, […]
The Seminar on Evolutionary Medicine has scheduled a special guest lecturer for tuesday April 13th. Chris Kuzawa is a biological anthropologist at Northwestern University whose interests lie in developmental biology, evolutionary theory, and health. Dr. Kuzawa has promised to share his knowledge of the developmental origins of health and disease. […]
In preparation for Chris Kuzawa’s visit, we will read some of his work that relates the the developmental origins of health and disease (Dohad). kuzawa-chapter-for-evolutionary-anthropology Diabetes and Development
If you are itching for more reading on autism, Richard has contributed the following links: The paper (first 8 pages especially) I tell everyone to start with for understanding autism is: “Identification and Evaluation of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders” and this perspective piece: Click to access nn1770.pdf Mabel recommends: […]
Here is the NY Times link on Bernard Crespi’s work Here is the NY Times piece on depression Both of these are easily accessible descriptions of evolutionary ideas about these depression and autism. Here are some more scholarly articles. This piece is a bit more digestible than last week’s reading: […]
What are the evolutionary bases for mental illness? Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression appear to impose severe fitness penalties. What is going on here? Mismatch, hidden infection, balancing selection? Read the following articles to form your own ideas (the first two will be emphasized in class) Psychosis and infectious […]
On tuesday, we will pick up where we left off, with a discussion of medicine taking behavior in primates. Thursday’s topic will be mental health. Remember, we will begin at 3:45pm! Readings: Leaf Swallowing Jungle Medicine caterpillar defense Bioactivites in Diet of Chimpanzees Feel free to bring additional references, if […]
Important Background Reading:Nesse-Stearns-2008 and“Why” questions Our first session was held today at UNM’s Center for Disaster Medicine (2704 Yale SE). As a group, we decided that we would explore different topics each week, as decided by the previous week’s conversation.This is a more organic way to plan a half-semester than […]
EvolutionMedicine 