Pathfinders: A Global History of ExplorationOxford University Press, 2006 - 428 pages We have built a world that no longer fits our bodies. Our genes - selected through our evolution - and the many processes by which our development is tuned within the womb, limit our capacity to adapt to the modern urban lifestyle. There is a mismatch. We are seeing the impact of this mismatch in the explosion of diabetes, heart disease and obesity. But it also has consequences in earlier puberty and old age.Bringing together the latest scientific research in evolutionary biology, development, medicine, anthropology and ecology, Peter Gluckman and Mark Hanson, both leading medical scientists, argue that many of our problems as modern-day humans can be understood in terms of this fundamental and growing mismatch. It is an insight that we ignore at our peril. |
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adventure Africa Arctic Asia Atlantic attempt Australia became began British called Canaries Cape charts China Chinese civilization coast colony Columbus commercial communities continent crossed culture discovery Dutch early east Easter Island efforts empire environments Eurasia Europe European evidence expedition exploitable explorers Frémont French geographers global gold Greenland Guinea Henrique Henrique's human Ibid imperial Indian Ocean interior islands journey king Lake land late latitude long-range longitude maritime Meanwhile Mediterranean merchants Mesoamerica mission missionaries Mongol monsoonal mountains Muslim native navigation Niger Nile Norse North America Northwest Passage numbers Pacific perhaps Pole Polynesian Portugal Portuguese reached recorded Red Sea region reported river route sail scurvy seaborne seems settlement ships shore Siberia Silk Roads sixteenth century southern Spain Spaniards Spanish story Strait surviving Tartessos Teotihuacan Terra Australis Tibet took trade traditional turned voyage western wind Zheng