Survival of the sickest.

If a child cannot live on its own without a machine or medication, then it is not evolutionarily fit.

Due to advanced technology and medicine first world people alive who otherwise would not have survived. This has led people to question where the human race is going in evolutionary terms, and to wonder if  stopped evolving completely. Though the Third World is behind  in healthcare, adaptations may give a clue for our species' future. These diagrams show how the selection pressure of malaria is making a faulty gene more common.

When a person inherits two copies of this faulty gene (which affects the haemoglobin molecule and plays a part in the shape of red blood cells) they have sickle-cell disease. This disease causes problems in carrying oxygen round the body and blood cells become stuck in small blood vessels more easily. However when a person only inherits one copy they have a different condition, known as sickle cell trait - and sickle trait offers protection against malaria.

This hypothesis - known as "the malaria hypothesis" - has been around for more than 50 years and is supported by population and lab studies. But it was only in 2010 that a full map was created to show the frequency of this gene compared with the spread of malaria. The first and second diagrams show the spread of the "sickle cell gene" while the third shows the spread of malaria. The geographical evidence shows the relationship is very strong in Africa, where those with sickle cell trait have an advantage in the struggle against malaria. Natural selection has kept this otherwise disadvantageous gene in the gene pool.

Mosquito Heart

Malaria’s impact worldwide is still an issue, particularly in developing countries. Research is ongoing to study the carriers of malaria, mosquitoes, and how they carry and transmit the disease and other pathogens. That’s why the 2010 winning image by Jonas King is so important to the life science community.

Anopheles gambiae (mosquito heart) was captured at 100x magnification. Jonas works out of Vanderbilt University’s Hillyer Lab, which studies the interactions between mosquitoes and their pathogens, along with salivary components and how they interact with the vertebrate host’s immune response.

The image details the structural organization of the mosquito heart and provides insight into how mosquitoes move blood to all regions of their bodies. Jonas notes, “Mosquitoes remain one of the greatest scourges of mankind. Malaria infects hundreds of millions of people annually and is believed to have a major impact on the economies of endemic regions.”