Moalem's Evolutionary Tales

I have found Dr. Sharon Moalem's Survival of the Sickest to be the most enjoyable reading that we have assigned.  Perhaps, this is because he presents his argument through a series of interesting stories.  From learning about the relationship between skin pigmentation, UVB absorption, folic acid depletion, and Vitamin D production, to discovering the phenomenon behind Asian's "flush" response to alcohol -- Moalem expresses the idea that evolutionary processes, based on geographic and population changes over time, account for many patterns of health that exist in present day. Disease is typically cast in a negative shadow, that Survival of the Sickest, works to readjust by conveying the potential benefits (some essential for survival) that many illnesses had for our ancestors.

The portion of Moalem's book that I believe to be most interesting is the second chapter, "A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Temperature Go Down."  Specifically, I enjoyed his discussion on the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, the connoisseurs of cryopreservation. At first, it may not seem like a huge deal that these wood frogs are able to sustain an unconscious, frozen state throughout the winter and revamp their metabolism come spring.  How might this adaptation, however, be an invaluable tool for human beings?  First, the ability to revitalize living organisms that have been preserved at very low temperatures, has enabled scientists and doctors to store banks of eggs and sperm that, when unfrozen, maintain the full capacity to be fertilized and develop into viable embryos.  Taking this concept to the next step is what I find particularly exciting - can this sort of technology allow us to preserve entire organs that can be stored and used for transplants? At current, unfortunately, no.  However, I think that this sort of technology will one day be sophisticated enough to allow for long term preservation of human organs. Moaelem describes the various features of the wood frog and suggests the possibility that these characteristics be used to develop strategies for human organ preservation.  For example, the wood frogs essentially diminish their water supply and shoot up their glucose levels in preparation for their deathlike winter.  To carry this idea further, I think it would be interesting to sequence the genome of this frog, with the hopes that the genetic makeup for this adaptation may somehow be able to be utilized in order to manipulate the ability of human organ to hibernate.  The development of such technology would change the face of medicine forever, as it would increase survival rates for patients suffering from  terminal illnesses, such a cancer or heart disease, who require organ replacement in order to live.