What are some ways in which studies in biological evolution will benefit mankind?

Answer 1

The most obvious way in which it has already benefitted mankind is in medicine.

Biological evolution gives us the framework in which to understand the development of antibiotics and the ways in which bacteria become immune to them. It also shows us how viruses (like AIDS and Asian Flu) mutate to produce new strains. It shows us how our own immune systems can be used to provide a hostile environment to these things. It gives us a roadmap for what other types of organisms can be used for medicines that our system does not reject, for organs that can be transplanted, for proteins (like insulin) that can be injected, for systems that respond in the same way that we do to drugs as they are being developed. The study of mutations as they relate to evolution has also provided a lot of head starts in understanding the natures and treatments of cancer.

As J.B.S. Haldane said:
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."

Answer 2

Unlike secretsause, I believe that like the poor, disease will always be with us. So, the greatest benefit of biological evolution will be in genetics and behavior. If we understand our evolved behavior and what genes underlie it, then, perhaps, something can be done to modify/channel that behavior. The social sciences have had enough chances in this area, so it is time evolutionary biology steps up into the horrendous gap left by years of social science blundering. It took evolutionarily informed people to alert us to what need to be obvious to all; that foster care of children is the greatest predictor of child abuse. Something that was obvious to the evolutionary informed, even though social science missed it completely and still snipes at the results. Sexual variance is another area where those evolutionarily informed were well ahead of the neurological findings that showed sexual variance. The bio-medical field, to get back to physiology, needs to evolutionarily inform itself, as in the past, they have been guilty of artificially selecting our parasites. One could go on all day in this vein, but the predictive power of biological evolution is well established and can benefit mankind greatly.

Answer 3

As others have said, these studies will benefit mankind in the field of medicine.

Also, however, these studies will aid many different fields of science in various ways. Insight into where the human race came from will aid us in understanding where we are going. This is important to predict many different things and will enable us to find signs with which we can differentiate the presence of bilological evolution or mere consequence in organisims.

Answer 4

studies of biological evolution allows people to understand the genetic makeup and mutations that have occured throughout time. Not only in genotypes but also the phenotypes. They observe the physical nature of specimens and examine the changes and how they are advantageous for that particular specimen.