Abstract
This chapter introduces the book, motivates it with examples of cases in which evolutionary approaches provide useful insights, and provides a brief sketch of evolutionary biology that describes key concepts and misconceptions. It argues that doctors need to know this about evolution: how natural selection works; why trade-offs are ubiquitous; how to distinguish and apply proximate and ultimate explanations; how to distinguish natural selection, drift, and inherited constraints as explanations; why group selection is weak and rarely an explanation; why aging is a byproduct of selection for reproductive success earlier in life; why each human differs genetically in reacting to drugs and diseases; how pathogens rapidly evolve antibiotic resistance, and how that can be managed; how pathogen virulence evolves in response to human interventions; how evolutionary conflicts help to explain reproductive problems; and how selection operates in everyday life.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Unknown Journal |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Autoimmune disease
- Cancer
- Evolutionary biology
- Infection
- Reproduction
- Trade-offs
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences