Lecture 21: Evolutionary Medicine (EEB 122)
This lecture explores the critical role of evolutionary principles in medicine, detailing how human physiology and pathogen responses evolve. It discusses adaptive phenotypic plasticity (e.g., 'thrifty phenotypes') and the evolution of intermediate virulence in pathogens.
Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (EEB 122)
Evolution plays an important though underutilized role in medicine. Evolution guides how our bodies respond to various treatments, how pathogens will respond to treatments, and how pathogens' responses will change over time. Pathogens oftentimes will evolve to an intermediate level of virulence where they become strong enough to infect a host and reproduce, but not so strong as to kill the host before it can spread the pathogen.
Lecture 20: Coevolution (EEB 122)
Next · Lecture 22Lecture 22: The Impact of Evolutionary Thought on the Social Sciences (EEB 122)