Human life course biology: A centennial perspective of scholarship on the human pattern of physical growth and its place in human biocultural evolution

The great lesson that comes from thinking of organisms as life cycles is that it is the life cycle, not just the adult, that evolves (Bonner, 1993, p. 93).We structure our Centennial Perspective on human life course biology in the following manner: 1) the discovery of the interplay between evolutionary processes with physical growth and development; 2) the recognition of novel features of human growth and development, and several ways these may be organized into a continuum of ontogenetic events; 3) evidence that the human life course biology establishes the foundation for the capacity for human culture and biocultural reproduction; 4) the interactive nature of human life course biology with the social, economic, and political environment.Our essay is not an exhaustive review, rather it highlights critical research and scholarship, emphasizes articles published in the AJPA and the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, and mentions research by the authors where appropriate ('all is vanity' Ecclesiastes 1:2).Part 1: The interplay between evolutionary processes with physical growth and development Evolution and growthEver since Darwin (Gould, 1977) we know natural selection is one of the mechanisms shaping biology.Ever since Dobzhansky we know that, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" (Dobzhansky, 1973).The pattern of human growth makes sense when illuminated by evolution, especially the twin engines of natural selection -differential fertility and mortality.Other mechanisms of evolution, mutation, migration, genetic drift, epigenetic assimilation (Waddington, 1957;Hallgrimsson et al., 2002;Fuentes, 2010;Bogin, 2013), and sexual selection (Gray, 2013), also play their roles.