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SMP 2/18/06 | Natural Selection & the Regulation of Defense Responses: How Much Suffering is Enough? | Speaker: Randolph Nesse

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        1. SMP 4/22/06 | Applied Evolution: Domestication, Disease, Crime & Culture | Speaker: David Mindell
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        6. SMP 3/11/06 | How Old: The Physics of Dating Artifacts | Speaker: Fred Becchetti
        7. SMP 2/18/06 | Natural Selection & the Regulation of Defense Responses: How Much Suffering is Enough? | Speaker: Randolph Nesse
        8. SMP 2/11/06 | Genomes and Evolution | Speaker: George Zhang
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  6. Seminars & Colloquia
Saturday, February 18, 2006
12:00 AM
170 & 182 Dennison Building

Speaker: Randolph Nesse (U-M Psychiatry & Psychology)

If natural selection is so great, then why is life so full of pain, cough, nausea, fever, anxiety and fatigue? A signal detection analysis reveals it is for the same reason that smoke detectors scream when we make toast. Knowing that most instances of defensive arousal are unnecessary but completely normal offers the missing scientific foundation for deciding how we should use new drugs.

Detailed Information
All talks are free and refreshments will be served. Visitor parking for the seminars (Central Campus) is across the street from the Dennison Building in the U-M Church Street structure. There is a $2.00 parking charge implemented by U-M Parking Services.

Contact Information
For more information regarding the Saturday Morning Physics series, see the Physics Department website, or call 734.764.4437