Science Archives

Why We Get Sick: Darwinian Medicine Explained

Why hasn’t natural selection, over millions of years, prevented us from getting cancer, heart disease, and depression? Why do our bodies deteriorate with age? How can Darwinian Medicine help us understand diseases better? In the book Why We Get Sick, Randolph Nesse and George Williams explain that “natural selection” means that evolution prioritizes reproductive fitness above all else and that evolution doesn’t bother eliminating diseases that affect us later in life. They also discuss reproductive health and aging as they relate to Darwinian Medicine. Keep reading to learn more about the evolutionary science behind why we get sick.

The Invention of Language: Humanity’s Greatest Feat

Is language an invention or an intrinsic trait? What are the exact mechanisms that gave rise to the phenomenon of symbolic language? Language is undoubtedly one of the greatest human inventions of all time, although the question of whether symbolic language is an invention or an intrinsic feature of the human species is a matter of semantics. There’s some archaeological evidence that language arose during the Cro-Magnon period, but the exact mechanisms behind its development are unknown. Keep reading to learn about the invention of the human language.

How Do Parasites Work if They Damage Their Host?

How do parasites work? Why do they damage their hosts? Wouldn’t it benefit the parasite to keep its host nourished and healthy? The authors of Why We Get Sick explore the science behind how parasites work. They argue that parasites are competitive and that they must fight each other for resources. They also claim that parasites and hosts have reached an equilibrium. Keep reading to learn why parasites don’t help us.

Why Do We Get Sick? Our Bodies Make Compromises

Why hasn’t evolution prevented sickness and disease? How can Darwinian medicine explain why we get sick? The reason we still get sickness and disease despite evolution is that the body must make careful compromises. Sometimes, the thing that causes a disease is or was helpful to us at some point in time. Continue reading to learn why we get sick despite evolutionary advances.

Bad Evolutionary Designs That Cause Problems

Why do humans share one input for both breathing and eating? Why do we still have an appendix? And why are our retinas inside out? The answer to all these questions is simple: bad evolutionary designs. Over time, evolution makes slow changes to our bodies, but it does not erase the old designs, leaving us with bad or useless traits. Keep reading to learn more about human evolutionary legacies.

Evolutionary Medicine Should Be Taught in Med School

Why isn’t evolutionary medicine taught in medical school? How could understanding how our bodies came to be this way help us to accept diseases and inspire hope? Medical schools prefer to teach using science that they can test in a lab rather than evolutionary medicine. However, evolutionary medicine can explain some attributes that modern medicine cannot. Keep reading for more on evolutionary medicine.

Human Senescence: The Mysteries of Aging

Why is the female lifespan longer than a male’s? Why do women go through menopause? These questions about human senescence, or aging, can be explained through Darwinian medicine. Darwinism says that the human body prioritized reproductive health above all else. That means that it will prioritize short-term reproductive fitness over long-term sustainability. Keep reading to learn more about the process of senescence.

The Human Aging Process: Why and How We Age

Why do humans age at the rate we do? What evolutionary factors play a role in the human aging process? Human aging is an unavoidable part of life. Over time, organ systems wear out and we become more susceptible to disease and injury. Find out why this process occurs and how it came to be this way through evolution. Continue reading to learn about human aging.

Primitive Brain: How to Use It to Your Advantage

What’s a primitive brain? How can you use it to your advantage to learn new skills in your 20s? While we’re young, we still have what’s called a primitive brain. While a primitive brain can make it hard to regulate our emotions, it can also be a huge advantage and can help you learn and grow. Read more about the primitive brain and how it works.

Human Body Regeneration: Why We Don’t Re-Grow

Why can’t humans regenerate body parts? How does Darwinian medicine help us understand the body better? Some animals, like lizards and starfish, can regrow body parts. However, humans do not have this ability because the negative costs outweigh the positive ones. Continue on to learn the dangers of human body regeneration.