The Evolution of Aging, the Great Transition, and the Increasing Risk of Chronic Disease

Explore the complex interplay between evolution, aging, and chronic disease in this comprehensive lecture. Delve into the evolutionary genetics of aging, examining selection pressures on lifespan and the life history theory. Discover the HAM-LAM experiment and mortality assay findings that shed light on lifespan evolution. Investigate which organisms must age and the implications for symmetrically reproducing organisms. Analyze the Great Transition, encompassing the industrial revolution and demographic and epidemiological shifts, and its impact on human evolution. Examine how increased life expectancy exposes antagonistic pleiotropy, leading to higher risks of breast cancer, Alzheimer's, and cardiovascular diseases. Consider the potential for humans to evolve longer lifespans and the growing tension between biology and culture in this thought-provoking presentation.

Intro
Acknowledgements
Plan of the talk
The Great Transition is doing at least 3 big things
How an evolutionary geneticist thinks about aging
Selection on lifespan
Thus the life history theory of lifespan
The HAM-LAM Experiment
The Mortality Assay Did lifespan evolve?
Which organisms must age?
Symmetrically reproducing organisms should not age
A deep implication
The Great Transition: the industrial revolution plus the demographic and epidemiological transitions
As mortality and fertility decline and life expectancy increases ...
the driver of selection shifts from mortality to fertility me recent demographie history of England
This transition impacts ongoing human evolution
The tension between biology and culture is increasing
Increased lifespan exposes antagonistic pleiotropy
Breast Cancer
Cancer in General
Alzheimer's and Cardiovascular disease
Coronary Artery Disease
Could we evolve to live longer?