#279 Daniel Lieberman: The Evolution of Bipedalism, and Modern Evolutionary Mismatch
RECORDED ON OCTOBER 24th, 2019.
Dr. Daniel Lieberman is Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He studies and teaches how and why the human body looks and functions the way it does. He started his career studying the evolution of the human head, but is now more focused on the evolution of human physical activity, and how evolutionary approaches to activities such as walking and running, as well as changes to our body’s environments (such as wearing shoes and being physically inactive) can help better prevent and treat musculoskeletal diseases. He’s the author of the books The Evolution of the Human Head, and The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease.
In this episode, the focus of our conversation is the evolution of human bipedalism. We talk about the evolutionary pressures behind it, the advantages it conferred to humans, the new challenges that it posed, and endurance running. In the second part of the interview, we talk about evolutionary mismatch, and the types of problems that we exposed our bodies to since the agricultural revolution, and the solutions we can develop.
Time Links:
The evolution of human bipedalism
Endurance running
The new challenges that bipedalism imposed on humans
How important was bipedalism in our evolution?
Evolutionary mismatch, and diseases of the modern world
Consequences of the agricultural revolution
Dysevolution, and how to solve it
Musculoskeletal diseases caused by physical inactivity
Changing our environments
Follow Dr. Lieberman’s work!
Follow Dr. Lieberman’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2Nbn9Ot
Personal website: http://bit.ly/2k3WsRx
Harvard University Skeletal Biology and Biomechanics Lab: http://bit.ly/2NnaoAP
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/2lzSS1M
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/2N8Xfeq
The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease: https://amzn.to/2m1e7da