Springer The Arc of Life: Evolution and Health Across the Life Course

Product Description Given the rapidly developing area of evolutionary medicine and public health, The Arc of Life examines ways in which research conducted by biological anthropologists can enrich our understanding of variation in human health outcomes. The book aims not only to showcase the perspective that biological anthropologists bring to the burgeoning field of evolutionary medicine, but to underscore the context of human life history -- especially the concept of evolutionary trade-offs and the ensuing biological processes that can affect health status over the life course. This dual emphasis on life history theory and life cycle biology will make for a valuable and unique, yet complementary, addition to books already available on the subject of evolution and health. The book consolidates diverse lines of research within the field of biological anthropology, stimulates new directions for future research, and facilitates communication between subdisciplines of human biology operating at the forefront of evolutionary medicine. Review “The volume consists of 11 chapters that track human life history from parental experiences through juvenile development, maturation, and midlife to postreproductive age. … This book will be used in graduate seminars in human biology and biological anthropology. … this is a stimulating progress report on the current state of one of several useful perspectives on evolutionary medicine.” (Stephen C. Stearns, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 92 (3), September, 2017)  “The book is a good introduction to a diverse set of active research threads in biological anthropology on evolution, health and disease. I expect it will be of interest to a graduate students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary medicine as well as health professionals with an interest in health and disease as an interaction between our evolutionary past and our present environments.” (Daniel Hruschka, EvMed Review, evmedreview.com, January, 2017) From the Back Cover This book examines ways in which research conducted by biological anthropologists can enrich our understanding of variation in human health outcomes. The book aims not only to showcase the perspective that biological anthropologists bring to the burgeoning field of evolutionary medicine, but to underscore the context of human life history -- especially the concept of evolutionary trade-offs and the ensuing biological processes that can affect health status over the life course. This dual emphasis on life history theory and life cycle biology will make for a valuable and unique, yet complementary, addition to books already available on the subject of evolution and health. The book consolidates diverse lines of research within the field of biological anthropology, stimulates new directions for future research, and facilitates communication between subdisciplines of human biology operating at the forefront of evolutionary medicine. About the Author Grazyna Jasienska, PhD:  Dr. Jasienska is a biological anthropologist whose research interests include reproductive ecology, human fertility, life history, and the implications of evolutionary biology for medicine and public health.  She has recently completed a book on the subject of evolutionary medicine entitled The Fragile Wisdom:  An Evolutionary View on Women's Biology and Health, currently in press by Harvard University Press.  Dr. Jasienska's research investigates the interactive effects of genetic, developmental and lifestyle determinants of variation in human reproductive function at both the population and individual level.  Most of her research takes place in rural Poland, where she directs the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site (Beskid Wyspowy range).  Dr. Jasienska is a Professor at the Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow, Poland and a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Anthropology at Yale University. Di