Evolutionmedicine

Coffee Brown and Joe Alcock talk about the obesity paradox? Why do some obese patients live longer than normal weight patients? Why do we collect fat in massive quantities? Is obesity bad? Why did obesity evolve? Answers and more questions abound

Kate Rusk and I continue our discussion about food, vitamins, the iron supplements, and what happens to the microbiome of hibernating bears.

Kate Rusk and Joe Alcock discuss the evolutionary biology of food. This episode is part one, originally recorded by Inertia TV, a science channel on Twitch.

This is part two of a recording that originally appeared on Inertia TV https://www.twitch.tv/inertiatv_ Kate Rusk, Coffee Brown and I discuss why back surgery is the ultimate placebo, what makes our brains work the way they do, and how doctors can harness the placebo effect in our practice. We riff on martial arts, religion, and of course, evolution too

Kate Rusk of Inertia TV, along with Joe Alcock and Coffee Brown of the EvolutionMedicine podcast do a deep dive on the placebo effect. Why did this capacity evolve in the first place? How can we harness the placebo effect? This is part one. originally recorded and live streamed on Twitch on March 20, 2018. Also check out part 2. Show notes for all podcasts are at www.EvolutionMedicine.com

This year, evolutionary anthropologist Kate Rusk began a streaming video science channel, called Inertia TV, that streams great science programming, including this program: Evolutionary Medicine with Joe Alcock MD. This episode was an introductory conversation on EvoMed between me, Joe Alcock, and Kate Rusk, recorded and live streamed in February 2018. Kate, Coffee Brown and I live streamed several episodes since then. The audio versions of all episodes will be released periodically over the next few weeks (video excerpts too). The link to Inertia TV on Twitch is www.twitch.tv/inertiatv_

Coffee Brown and Joe Alcock discuss the perils and pitfalls of too much oxygen. We discuss the recent IOTA study - a metaanalysis done by Paul Young's team and the upcoming ICUROX trial. This evidence is going to change how we practice medicine. It also has insights for evolutionary biology - our bodies can be self destructive, as in heart attacks and strokes, but healing processes may rely on normal to low normal oxygen levels. Too much oxygen may indeed be a bad thing

Joe Alcock and Coffee Brown have a discussion about evolution, medical decision making, and cognitive biases. We focus on a few major cognitive biases - achor bias, attribution bias, immediacy bias, halo effect, among others. We consider how our cognitive and sensory apparatus evolved in ways that can lead us to make mistakes. We explore the idea that the smoke detector principle can affect doctors' behavior and make ER docs more risk averse. How can we make better decisions with these cognitive pitfalls?

This week Joe Alcock and Coffee Brown get into the weeds of the ADRENAL trial - a huge study designed to answer the question - does giving steroids to patients with sepsis help or hurt? I say it hurts, Coffee is not so sure. We talk about why anti-inflammatory treatments have always failed in patients with septic shock. The lesson, it turns out, is an evolutionary one.

Joe Alcock and Coffee Brown discuss evolution, creationism, race and plenty of other hot topics while trying to explain why evolution gets no love in medical school

This is a previously episode first recorded in early 2017. It is timely, though, because a major trial on the effects of corticosteroids - the ADRENAL trial - will soon be made public. In this podcast I make the case that steroids are no bueno for patients with sepsis. I also discuss trauma in Japan, New Zealand, and South Africa. Enjoy

Joe Alcock is joined by evolutionary anthropologist Kate Rusk of InertiaTV and Science Happy Hour to talk about a recent JAMA article studying fluids for adults with sepsis. Do we give too much fluids for these patients? The JAMA article suggests we do. In both randomized controlled trials, both performed in Africa, patients died more when given IV fluids. We discuss the implications for evolution and critical care in this episode

Coffee Brown and Joe Alcock return to talk about epigenetics. Does it pose a challenge to Darwinian evolution? Does epigenetics vindicate Lamarkism, the inheritance of aquired characteristics? We mix up Lamark and his most famous adherent, Trofim Lysenko, but get it straight by the end.

In this 13th episode of the EvolutionMedicine 'cast Joe Alcock discusses the recent New England Journal of Medicine article about intensive insulin treatment for hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) in critically ill kids. The failure of this trial has important implications for emergency and critical care, and for evolutionary medicine

Can a little vitamin C given IV help cure sepsis. Recently this idea got a lot of press, and a trial of hydrocortisone and vitamin C was published in the journal Chest. Does this make any sense? What can evolution tell us about this idea. The EvolutionMedicine 'cast is back to give this a critical eye, with your host, Joe Alcock

Coffee Brown MD joins Joe Alcock to discuss whether stress is good or bad for us. We also discuss the election and the idea that stress hormones play a role in political choices.

Joe Alcock and Melissa Franklin PhD explain why some diets cause inflammation and others don't. The answer, as usual, involves the microbiome, and in our evolutionary biology. We also discuss how the microbiome affects sleep, and implications of this for night shift workers.

Joe Alcock is joined by guest Darryl Macias who describes his recent expedition to Shishapangma to help with a body recovery at high altitude. We also discuss the brain at its limits in extreme environments, gut microbes, and zombies

Native people of the Andes can cope with high altitude better than the rest of us genetic lowlanders. How is this so? We cover the evolutionary biology of high altitude peoples of the Andes, Himalayas, and Ethiopian highlanders

How evolution can teach students healthy skepticism in medicine. Will robots replace doctors?