Nessays

Runaway positive feedback and disease

Vicious cycles are everywhere once you recognize them

Jan 25 • Randolph Nesse

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The genotype-to-phenotype path is a maze in a tangled bank

Severely limiting the power of genetic predictions

Jan 6 • Randolph Nesse

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December 2025

Psychiatry’s Holy Grail does not exist. What now?

We need a medical view of disorders as failure modes in functional systems

Dec 14, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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October 2025

Viewing Diseases As Adaptations

An error that is as natural as it is serious

Oct 14, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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September 2025

Mood disorders are control system failure modes

Not products of specific brain abnormalities

Sep 15, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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Epistasis Illustrated

to make the concept and formulas make sense

Sep 7, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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May 2025

ADHD is not an adaptation

But foraging theory is crucial for understanding it

May 26, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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The Body is not a Machine

This post is adapted from my 2016 essay that inspired the 2025 PNAS Nexus article with Guru Madhavan and Jay Labov on the origins of failure in bodies…

May 22, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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What is evolutionary medicine?

Understanding why natural selection left us vulnerable to disease can improve health.

May 21, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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Why constructive engagement is rare

An evolutionary explanation for the great obstacle to science and congeniality

May 18, 2025 • Randolph Nesse

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