The Evolution of Aging, the Great Transition, and the Increasing Risk of Chronic Disease
This talk first reviews the
ideas and evidence on why
we age. It then describes
the Great Transition –
changes in mortality,
fertility, nutrition, and
public health that have
occurred roughly
simultaneously as
countries undergo
economic development,
passing through the
Industrial Revolution into
the modern world. These
changes have implications
for ongoing human
evolution, but more
immediately, they have
implications for the risks
of chronic diseases and the
growing evidence that is
exposing their
evolutionary origin. It
concludes with the
message that we might be
able to engineer our genes
to try to live longer, but
there will be costs, which
are currently unknown.
Date: 9 March 2020, 16:00 (Monday, 8th week, Hilary 2020)
Venue: Jesus College, Turl Street OX1 3DW
Speaker: Stephen Stearns (University of Yale)
Organisers: Gabriella Kountourides (University of Oxford), Dr Alex Alvergne (School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford), Professor Tim Coulson (Department of Zoology, University of Oxford)
Topics:
Booking required?: Required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Hannah Austyn