Human Biology and Health: An Evolutionary Approach

by Davey, Basiro

• ISBN13: 9780335208395
• ISBN10: 0335208398
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: OPEN UNIVERSITY PRESS

Summary

This book starts from the premise that patterns of illness and disability in modern human populations have been influenced by the biological and cultural evolution of the human species over the last five million years. Developments as diverse as the transition to an upright posture, the farming of grains, close contact with domestic animals, the use of cooking, and the proliferation of urban settlements, industrial processes and international travel have all had profound effects on human health. The evolution of infectious, genetic and degenerative diseases are viewed through the interaction between human biology and human culture, which helps explain the variation in susceptibility to disease between individuals and populations. The authors are biologists who have written an introduction to human biology and evolution that is accessible to a general readership, but which aims to teach some fundamental biological principles, including DNA and the nature of genes, the structure and functions of cells, the evolution of infectious agents and the human immune system, and the interaction between human physiology and the physical environment. The potential for new biomedical and genetic technologies to offer partial solutions to a few major health problems is considered, alongside the ethical dilemmas they pose for health services and for individuals in the developed world. The book contains case-studies on genetic screening and gene therapy, lactose intolerance and dioxin pollution, and ends with the suggestion that the pace of cultural change is now seriously challenging human capacity to evolve genetic and social adaptations to maintain and improve health.

Table of Contents

A note for the general reader	6	(2)
Study guide for OU students	8	(2)
Why `an evolutionary approach'?	10	(7)
Basiro Davey
The human biological heritage	17	(34)
Caroline Pond
The story of life in a few pages	51	(50)
Basiro Davey
Tim Halliday
Inheritance and variation	101	(50)
Mark Hirst
Judith Metcalfe
Living with other species	151	(40)
Tim Halliday
Basiro Davey
Surviving infectious disease	191	(34)
Basiro Davey
Digestion and dietary change	225	(36)
Caroline Pond
On living longer	261	(24)
Heather McLannahan
Tinkering with nature	285	(44)
Mark Hirst
Judith Metcalfe
Living with the chemical industrial environment	329	(22)
Helen Dolk
The impact of modern culture	351	(12)
Helen Dolk
References and further sources	363	(9)
Answers to questions	372	(13)
Acknowledgements	385	(2)
Index	387