When meat was scarce, did TB help out? (Image: Plopparelli/Tendance Floue
PHTHISIS. Consumption. King’s Evil. White plague. Tuberculosis has had many names. Call it what you like, it was and still is a deadly disease, killing between 1 and 2 million people every year. But we think that humanity’s relationship with this pathogen is far more complex than it first appears. In fact, it could have played a vital role in human evolution.
“Humanity’s relationship with this pathogen is more complex than it seems”
This counter-intuitive idea arose from a seemingly unrelated area of study: our ancient ancestors’ meat-eating culture.…
