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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Sep 15

Why can't we find specific genes and brain abnormalities that cause and define specific mood disorders? It is because, like heart and renal failure, mood disorders are failure modes of control systems that can have diverse causes.
🧪 @evmed.bsky.social
www.nessays.com/p/mood-disor...

Ten Failure Mode for Mood Control Systems

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Sep 14

I will give 2 talks on evolutionary psychiatry in Tokyo on Sept 24 mentalhealth-unit.jp/plugin/blogs...
and 1 in Kyoto on the 25th.
ashbi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/event/eve...

I look forward to meeting Japanese colleagues.

@evmed.bsky.social @humbehevosoc.bsky.social 🧪 @evolmtg.bsky.social @evol

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Sep 7

Not perfectly clear about epistasis? The illustrations and formulas in my new Nessay should help. 🧪
@umehap.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org @ent3c.bsky.social @arvidagren.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com @eikofried.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/randynes...

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Jun 12

Ah, a badly designed system! But why is it badly designed? Which of the following possibilities are likely suspects?
(from my new article on the origins of failure in bodies and machines.)

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Jun 6

@ncse.bsky.social has fought advocates for ignorance and antiscience for decades. Its work is more important than ever now, as the threat of a new dark age looms ever larger. I have written about objectivity being selected against, but I never dreamed there would be organized opposition to science.

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Jun 6

Antonis Rokas is organizing the 10th annual meeting of the @evmed.bsky.social International Society for Evolution, Medicine , and Public Health meeting at Vanderbilt where he directs the University’s Evolutionary Studies Initiative. bsky.app/profile/evol...

bsky.app

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Jun 6

How amazing and wonderful that all 3 winners of this year's @ncse.bsky.social Friend of Darwin Award ncse.ngo/friend-darwi... are evolutionary medicine researchers! Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social was one of the first faculty I recruited for the @cemasu.bsky.social at ASU.

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Jun 2

I am a psychiatrist.

Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 27

Here is my Substack essay commenting on an article that reports a research project on foraging theory and ADHD that I have long wanted to see...but whose conclusion–that ADHD is an adaptation–seems to me to be inconsistent with evolutionary theory.

www.nessays.com/p/adhd-is-no...

ADHD is not an adaptation

But foraging theory is crucial for understanding it

www.nessays.com

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 22

The Body is not a Machine open.substack.com/pub/randynes...

The Body is not a Machine

This post is adapted from my 2016 essay that inspired the 2025 PNAS Nexus article with Guru Madhavan and Jay Labov on the origins of failure in bodies and machines.

open.substack.com

Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 21

300 characters is often only a good start.
For longer essays on evolutionary medicine, psychiatry, and more, visit my new Substack at Nessays.com.

Nessays | Randolph Nesse | Substack

Randy Nesse's Essays on why evolution left us vulnerable to sickness, suffering, and simplistic thinking. Click to read Nessays, by Randolph Nesse, a Substack publication. Launched 3 days ago.

Nessays.com

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 17

@awaisaftab.bsky.social is doing so much to help make psychiatry sensible. The questions he posed about #EvolutionaryPsychiatry helped me to get a better grasp of my own field! See the full version on his substack www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/why-did-ev...

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 11

The essay by @awaisaftab.bsky.social does a fine job of describing how cliff-edge fitness functions may explain vulnerability to some diseases. For an accessible Psychology Today article on the topic, see the link below. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 9

I am skeptical about claims that autism rates are climbing fast, and even more skeptical that there are specific environmental causes. But someone needs to educate geneticists who think that the high heritability of a trait means that environmental factors are unimportant. @medscape.com

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 9

Myopia is an example. It is rare in cultures where people live mostly outdoors and reading is rare, but in modern societies it is common and the variation in risk results mostly from genetic variation.
@evmed.bsky.social @ibg.colorado.edu @genetics-gsa.bsky.social @autismsocietync.bsky.social

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 9

A recent article about autism cites experts who say that its high heritability means that environmental factors are unimportant. That is a fundamental mistake. Environmental changes that influence entire populations can make previously neutral alleles deleterious.🧪
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

What Do We Know About the Causes of Autism?

Scientists who have dedicated their careers to studying autism remain highly skeptical that a definitive answer to what causes autism can be reached within a few short months — if at all.

www.medscape.com

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 5

Design failures like this are everywhere. They need to be studied systematically. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Explanations for failures in designed and evolved systems

Abstract. Engineers have long studied the origins of design features that make machines prone to failure, but biologists have only recently begun investiga

academic.oup.com

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · May 2

An engineer, an educator, and an evolutionary biologist walk into a bar...(well, actually, we talked at @evmed.bsky.social meetings); today, 3 years later, our plans for a new bridge between engineering and medicine are published in @pnasnexus.org!

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Apr 5

Here is an insightful essay by
Rob Kurzban on the pressure to produce novel counterintuitive articles to get attention in academia. We need a name for false ones that spread fast.
Perhaps "#MemeArticles" is catchy enough to spread fast.

Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Mar 16

The best 2024 article about evolution, medicine and public health will win the $5000 Omenn Prize. Nominate an article now. It is easy. And the winner-and all of us- will REALLY appreciate it!
isemph.org/Omenn-Prize

🧪E. #EvMed @evmed.bsky.social @tricem.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Mar 12

Failure to recognize that bodies are not machines causes serious problems...Thinking that genes and emotions each have specific functions is a fundamental misunderstanding
Much more in the article.
randolphnesse.com/articles/emo...
@bioengineergm.bsky.social
@evmedf.bsky.social randolphnesse.com

Randolph Nesse

Randolph M. Nesse, MD[email protected]@RandyNesse@RandyNesse.bsky.social See you at ISEMPH2025 July 5-10, Nashville, TN

RandolphNesse.com

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Mar 12

The structure of complexity in organic systems is fundamentally different from that in machines.The components of bodies often have blurry boundaries and many functions. Their networks are far different from anything an engineer would design. 2/3 @humbehevosoc.bsky.social @tricem.bsky.social

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Mar 12

#TacitCreationism is pervasive and problematic. Dan Stein and I explain why, and why it matters, in our just-published article. 1/3
@evmed.bsky.social @umehap.bsky.social ky.social @eikofried.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Mar 4

Really interesting ClubEvMed discussion with Dr. Paul Turke on Evolutionary Pediatrics on Wednesday at noon ET. Based on his new book Bringing Up Baby. All welcome. A great group! Free. Join us! @evmed.bsky.social 🧪 #evmed

duke.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Club Ev Med: Bringing Up Baby. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

duke.zoom.us

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Randolph Nesse @randynesse.bsky.social · Feb 13

Instead of trying to solve such problems, I am now asking what aspects of evolved human minds make us unable to resolve them. Perhaps a more tractable problem.
5/5 @awaisaftab.bsky.social @evmed.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com

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