A wonderful new article by Mel Graves is a must read now and will become a classic. Fortunately it is open access. Greaves, M. (2018). Nothing in cancer makes sense except…. BMC Biology, 16(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-018-0493-8

The article begins: Dobzhansky’s insight applies not just to biology but to much in medicine. For example, our vulnerability to many chronic diseases in modern societies probably owes much to a mismatch between contemporary lifestyles and historical, evolutionary adaptations [12]. Another potent example is with the development of drug resistance in microbes and parasites which is contingent upon clonal, evolutionary selection [3]. Similarly, the emergence of new or more virulent microbial pathogens reflects the outcome of evolutionary arms races between the immune system’s pathogen recognition repertoire and the high mutability of viruses, parasites and bacteria [4]. It’s a travesty that it is still possible to obtain a medical degree whilst in denial, or lacking understanding, of the essential tenets of evolutionary biology [5]. But, it is also likely that some evolutionary biologists are unaware of the medical implications of their field.