Twenty First
Annual Darwin College Lecture Series
2006
Lecture 6 : 24 February
SURVIVING FAMINE
Andrew Prentice
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Abstract
Who amongst us has really been forced to contemplate the dark
horror of the simple word 'famine'? Who amongst us needs to worry
about where our next meal will come from? Yet to our recent ancestors
the unimaginable horrors of famine have been an ever-present threat.
Food historians propose that hunter-gatherer humans were protected
from famine by their very low population density, their dietary
diversity, and their ability to migrate when local resources were
depleted. Paradoxically it was the dawn of agriculture that heralded
seasonal hunger and catastrophic famines caused by climatic
instability. Huge populations dependent on a single staple crop could
be devastated by drought or blight. And if they escaped the wrath of
nature they could be scythed down by man's inhumanity to man when
starvation was used as an instrument of war and subjugation.
Surviving famine has driven the evolution of a range of metabolic and
behavioural adaptations. We overeat and lay down fat when the harvest
is in; we stop breeding when resources are short; we suppress our
metabolism to conserve energy; we steal and we covet our neighbours'
belongings; and when famine is really severe we eat each other. In
modern wealthy societies these responses are redundant and many have
become maladaptive. The pandemic of obesity and diabetes is a classic
example of 'thrifty genes' rendered detrimental by progress. Certain
human behaviours might also be traced back to our ancestors' struggles
against famine. We bear the mark of these struggles indelibly etched
into our genome. As Darwin concluded in his Origin of Species '. the
production of the higher animals, directly follows . from the war of
nature, from famine and death'.
The lectures are given at 5.30 p.m. in The Lady Mitchell Hall,
Sidgwick Avenue, with an adjacent overflow theatre with live TV
coverage. Each lecture is typically attended by 600 people so you
must arrive early to ensure a place.
|
