Dr. Moalem's Survival Of The Sickest

Dr. Moalem’s Survival of the Sickest provides insight into the biology of evolution and its connections to various diseases, whether it be a mild flu or stage 4 lung cancer. The book discloses the astonishing fact that every organism is affecting the development of another organism, or as he puts it, “The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their effects.” (Moalem XV) Another frequently mentioned topic in Survival of the Sickest is natural selection. Natural selection is most famously known through Charles Darwin, in which Christ’s College Cambridge states, “Evolutionary change comes through the production of variation in each generation and different

Iron carries oxygen from our lungs through the bloodstream and releases it in the body where it’s needed. Iron is built into the enzymes that do most of the chemical heavy lifting in our bodies, where it helps us to detoxify poisons and to convert sugars into energy.” Despite being a vital mineral, too much of anything can be detrimental for the human body; therefore, introducing

Additionally, the book modified my judgments of inheritance. Many research topics can stem out of these inherited defects with beneficial advantages for survival such as taking a part of the G6PD- deficiency gene to cure malaria. Furthermore, studying defects like hemochromatosis, diabetes, or favism may be crucial to taking a leap (and hopefully, landing) in the scientific and medical community. And we end on this quote from Dr. Sharon Moalem himself which very accurately sums up my comprehension of evolution from this book, “If you’ve come this far on our journey across the evolutionary landscape, you’ve probably gathered a good sense of the interconnectedness of — well, just about everything. Out genetic makeup has been adapting in response to where we live and what the weather’s like. The food we eat has evolved to cope with the organisms that eat it, and we’ve evolved to cope with that. We’ve looked at the way we’ve evolved to resist or manage the threat posed by specific infectious diseases, like malaria… At the end of the day, every living thing — bacteria, protozoa, lions, tigers, bears, and your baby brother- shares two hardwired imperatives: Survive.