Medicine is grounded in the natural sciences, among which biology stands out with regard to the understanding of human physiology and conditions that cause dysfunction. Ironically though, evolutionary biology is a relatively disregarded field. One reason for this omission is that evolution is deemed a slow process. Indeed, macroanatomical features of our species have changed very little in the last 300,000 years. A more detailed look, however, reveals that novel ecological contingencies, partly in relation to cultural evolution, have brought about subtle changes pertaining to metabolism and immunology, including adaptations to dietary innovations, as well as adaptations to the exposure to novel pathogens. Rapid pathogen evolution and evolution of cancer cells cause major problems for the immune system to find adequate responses.

In addition, many adaptations to past ecologies have turned into risk factors for somatic disease and psychological disorder in our modern worlds (i.e. mismatch), among which epidemics of autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity, as well as several forms of cancer stand out. In addition, depression, anxiety and other psychiatric conditions add to the list.

The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Medicine is a compilation of cutting edge insights into the evolutionary history of ourselves as a species, and how and why our evolved design may convey vulnerability to disease. Written in a classic textbook style emphasising physiology and pathophysiology of all major organ systems, the Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Medicine will be valuable for students as well as scholars in the fields of medicine, biology, anthropology and psychology.

About the Author:
Martin Brune, Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine Division of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, Wulf Schiefenhovel, Professor of Medical Psychology and Ethnomedicine, Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology, Germany

Born in Dortmund, Germany, in 1962. Martin Brune graduated in medicine at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Munster in 1988. He completed his neurology training in 1993, and his psychiatry training in 1995. His subsequent training included a Visiting Research Scientist fellowship at the Centre for the Mind, a joint venture of the Australian National University and University of Sydney. He is currently Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the Division of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry and Psychiatric Preventive Medicine at the LWL University-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.

Martin Brune's research projects include social cognition in psychiatric disorders, the association of social cognition with social functioning and nonverbal behaviour, game-theoretical scenarios, the effect of oxytocin on social perception and cognition in psychiatric disorders and social interaction in therapeutic settings.

Born in 1943 in Siegen, Germany. Wulf Schiefenhovel graduated in medicine at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen in 1970. In 1965 beginning of ongoing fieldwork in ethnomedicine, anthropology and human ethology in Mainland and Island New Guinea. WS was president of the German Society for Anthropology, the International Society for Human Ethology and fellow of several institutes of advanced study. He teaches human ethology at Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck.

Wulf Schiefenhovel's cross-cultural research projects (mostly centered on Melanesia) include: human reproduction and birth, early infancy, non-verbal behaviour, aggression and aggression control, population genetics and history of Papuan and Austronesian dispersal, ethnomedical concepts and practices, socio-cultural correlates of handedness, language and cognition, evolutionary bases of human religious inclinations, management of acculturation, anthropology of food, evolutionary medicine, ethnoarchaeology, and ethnographic film.