#420 Stephen Stearns: Life History Theory, and Evolutionary Medicine
RECORDED ON NOVEMBER 13th 2020.
Dr. Stephen Stearns is Edward P Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Yale University. Dr. Stearns specializes in life history evolution, which links the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology, and in evolutionary medicine. His books include “Evolutionary Medicine” (Sinauer, 2015) with Ruslan Medzhitov, “Evolution, an introduction” (Oxford, 2000, 2nd Ed 2005) with Rolf Hoekstra, “Watching, from the Edge of Extinction” (Yale, 1999) with his wife Beverly Peterson Stearns, “The Evolution of Life Histories” (Oxford, 1992), and two edited volumes, “Evolution in health and disease” (Oxford, 1998, 2nd Ed 2008) and “The Evolution of Sex and its Consequences.”
In this episode, we talk about life history theory, and evolutionary medicine. We discuss life history theory extensively, including how it links ecology to evolutionary biology, and r/K-selection. We talk about individual variation in life history strategies, phenotypic plasticity, and culture. We then get into evolutionary medicine, where we talk about evolutionary mismatch and diseases of the modern world, and evolutionary public health. We end with a question from a patron.
Time Links:
Life history theory, and how it connects ecology and evolutionary biology
r/K-selection and life history
Individual variation
Phenotypic plasticity
Culture
Evolutionary medicine
Evolutionary mismatch and modern disease
Evolutionary public health
Question from a patron
Follow Stearns’ work!
Follow Dr. Stearns’ work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/38DQuh5
Website: https://bit.ly/2ItAH9v
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/38EF64l
Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3niN5bu
Evolution and Medicine lectures (YouTube): https://bit.ly/35q5Bsl
Evolution, Ecology and Behavior lectures (YouTube): https://bit.ly/35rVoeR