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Cancer Evolution Medicine Science

Medicine and evolution, part 13: The fly in the ointment of personalized cancer therapy

About a year ago, I addressed what might seem to the average reader to be a very simple, albeit clichéd question: If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we cure cancer? As I pointed out at the time, it’s a question that I sometimes even ask myself, particularly given that cancer […]

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Biology Cancer Evolution Medicine Science

Medicine and evolution, part 12: Using evolution to develop adaptive chemotherapy

Three years ago, I wrote about what I considered to be a fascinating and promising approach to understanding tumor biology. This method involved understanding that tumors are in general made up of a heterogeneous collection of cells. Using this knowledge, it is possible to apply evolutionary principles to cancer, treating a tumor as, in essence, […]

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Announcements Evolution Medicine Science Skepticism/critical thinking Surgery

Here’s one for Dr. Egnor: Grand Rounds is about the interface of medicine and evolution!

Here’s one for our favorite creationist neurosurgeon: A whole Grand Rounds all about the interface of and application to medicine of the theory of evolution.

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Clinical trials Evolution Medicine Science

Medicine and Evolution, Part 11: Studying the mechanism of multidrug resistance

Our creationist neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Egnor, isn’t going to like this one bit. No doubt he’ll try to call it “artificial selection” or a “tautology” when he finds out about it, if he doesn’t just ignore it because he it doesn’t fit in with his view that studying evolution is “of no value” in medicine. […]

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Evolution Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Medicine and Evolution, Part 10: “Intelligent design” creationists misrepresenting the role of evolution in medicine

If there’s one undeniable aspect of “intelligent design” creationism advocates, it is their ability to twist and misrepresent science and any discussions of evolution to their own ends. Be it Dr. Michael Egnor‘s twisting of history to claim that eugenics is based on Darwinism, rather than the artificial selection (or, as we snarky ones like […]