LIFESCI 2X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Cone Snail, Sponge, Papaver Somniferum
14 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
Examples of how biodiversity may help cure human disease and promote health. Examples of links between biodiversity and infectious diseases. Examples of how biodiversity may support agricultural systems. The state of biodiversity: what is biodiversity. The sum total of all organisms in an area: biodiversity and human health. Source of discovery to cure genetic foundation of human diseases. Polar bears do not lose bone mass when they hibernate. If humans are immobile, we lose 1/3 of our bone mass. Polar bears do not encounter osteoporosis, but they suffer kidney failures. Humans will get type 2 diabetes if we gorged on food like polar bears did. Nature has been providing medicines to treat diseases and relieve suffering for many thousands of years. Opium poppy is a source of morphine, important drug that people are being treated with. White willow tree is the source of aspirin. Rosy periwinkle is used in the treatment of leukemia.
