Chapter 7

Briefly explain what is meant by the statement "human mortality rates are facultative."

Describe the evidence suggesting that genetic factors influencing longevity have plasticity.

Describe how the intelligence of early Homo sapiens allowed parents to give more resources to fewer children. What effect would this have on human longevity?

Explain why the invention of the microscope in the mid-seventeenth century would lead to increased lonoevity

Explain why, after 1970, increases in life expectancy at birth in the United States were due to medical treatments for agerelated diseases, not a continuing decrease in infant mortality rate. Give an example to support your explanation.

List three factors that have placed the US Social Security system in financial crisis.

Has the gender gap in life expectancy at birth been increasing or decreasing since 1950? Give some likely reasons for the increase or decrease.