Before beginning this assignment, read Chapters 5 and 6 ("Injury" and "Toxins: New, Old, and Everywhere") in Why We Get Sick (Nesse and Williams). Then write a one-page essay that addresses the points raised in the problem below. As usual, assume that the intended audience for your essay includes intelligent and interested readers who are unfamiliar with Darwinian medicine and evolutionary biology. Your job is to inform these readers, as best you can, in your one-page essay. (Did you notice that "one-page" was hyphenated? Why did I do that? See page 287 of Hacker for the answer.)

Your essay must be computer-printed. Although the choice of font style and margins is up to you, your essay must be double-spaced, in 10-point or larger font, and fit on a single page. Submit it attached to a cover sheet that has your name, honor pledge, and date.

In their discussion of Margie Profet's theory of pregnancy sickness, Nesse and Williams suggest the possibility that pregnancy sickness (or something like pregnancy sickness) may well be present in other plant-eating mammals, thereby providing an opportunity to test Profet's theory experimentally. (An experimental test of Profet's theory in humans would raise serious ethical objections.)

In your one-page essay, write (1) a brief but clear summary and explanation of Profet's theory of pregnancy sickness, (2) one or more predictions that Profet's theory makes regarding maternal diet and birth defects in herbivorous mammals, and (3) a brief description of how you would test Profet's theory experimentally in an herbivorous mammal of your choice (field mice or rabbits would be good practical possibilities).