Jonathan R. Goodman in Nature:
From antimicrobial resistance and vaccines to drugs design and even policymaking, evolution is fundamental to many aspects of our lives. Yet, too often, Darwinian thinking is neglected.
In Force of Nature, biologist and legal scholar Owen Jones argues convincingly that understanding how evolution by natural selection works can inform humans’ interactions with their environment and with each other — and that misunderstanding it can create problems. He cites case studies from a range of fields, including medicine, agriculture and law, to support his position.
One example he draws on is antimicrobial resistance — one of the most pressing issues in the field of medicine. Humans’ overuse of antibiotics and antimicrobial chemicals is unintentionally creating the circumstances in which resistance to antibiotics can evolve. Yet when people with tuberculosis stop taking their antibiotics before the bacteria have been eradicated from their body, they are unconsciously encouraging antibiotic-resistant microbes. But it is possible to predict and prevent resistance by considering how such behaviours select for the evolution of resistance.
Natural selection also offers fresh ways to understand cancer.
More here.
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