The human immune response system, much like that of other mammals, evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to be a barrier against the nasty bugs and pathogens we live with day-to-day. Since the discovery of antibiotics (and their overuse in both human medicine and industrial farming), we have created a very clean and sterile …
Is the Disconnect between Biology and Culture making you Ill? Part One: Evolutionary Medicine.
Part One: Background Over the winter, rather disgusted at the weight that I put on over the past 20 years, I decided to do something about it. Complaining was easy, but taking steps to improve my health also proved to be quite easy as well. About 25 years ago, I was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, …
Do you Need an Antibiotic? What are they, What do they do, and How do they do it?
I love getting messages from readers, and G.L asks some very good questions about how modern medicine works. So good in fact, that I have decided to share them with you and to devote this month's post to antibiotics. “Dear Dr. Davis, I read your blog and I have a question you might be able …
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Climate Disruption, Forest Fragmentation: How Reduced Biodiversity leads to Increased Disease Load from Zoonosis.
Recently, an exchange on social media concerning Lyme disease and ticks prompted a good deal of disinformation, which was followed by several text messages to me asking such questions as, "Can ticks really carry rabies?" or, "Is there a vaccine for Lyme disease?" At a time of climactic change, we are seeing a rapid rise in …
How the Evolutionary Left-overs of Intuition, Bias, and Instinct, Hinder us in the Technological Age.
The philosopher William James believes that there were two different parts of thinking; that he labeled these two parts associative thinking, and true reasoning. According to this dual process theory, associative thinking was based in large part on past experiences from which we drew comparisons or abstractions. While true reasoning was reserved for tasks like …
What if you could live to be 500?
This morning, as I listened to the news, such as it is today; I heard part of a story that championed the significant advances in life and longevity due to the public health movement. While no one would even a tertiary understanding of public health could deny the enormous advances made in the past 125 …
Why knowledge is the new commodity, and why your degree may ultimately be useless.
Kurt Vonnegut once wrote “New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with the richer we become.” But is that true of all knowledge, or just some? Look closely at developed nations, those with un-launched missiles and un-dropped bombs. Then look at those nations and cultures that do …
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