Gadagkar, R (2022) More Fun Than Fun: Is Evolutionary Medicine Coming of Age? In: Health , History , The Sciences .
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Abstract
Basic scientists are good at proposing overarching theories, knocking down paradigms and erecting new ones. These are necessary and provide the raw material for future applications. Unfortunately, the new flurry of activity in evolutionary biology inspired by evolutionary medicine won’t by itself change the professional lives of doctors and the experience of patients. For this new research to have an impact on doctors and patients, evolutionary biology must have an equally salubrious effect on medicine and clinical practice. This can come about only if doctors and medical researchers adopt evolutionary biology as the core principle integrating their entire domain. The Ukrainian-American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky galvanised much of biology by noting, “Nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution”. A similar transformation in the spirit of “nothing makes sense in health and disease except in the light of evolution” will be needed for the fruits of evolutionary biology to percolate into medicine.
| Item Type: | Editorials/Short Communications |
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| Publication: | Health , History , The Sciences |
| Publisher: | science thewire |
| Additional Information: | The copyright of this article belongs to the Authors. |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Jan 2023 07:40 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Jan 2023 07:40 |
| URI: | https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/78481 |
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