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All adult mammals but humans are lactose intolerant. Follow human geneticist Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic Project of the National Geographic Society, as he tracks down the genetic and societal changes associated with the ability to digest lactose as adults-or lactose tolerance.

269 page  Curriculum Supplement from NIH 5 lessons  Ideas about the role of evolution in medicine Investigating lactose intolerance and evolution evolutionary processes and patterns inform medicine Using evolution to understand influenza Evaluating evolutionary explanations

It is, when you think about it, sort of weird that nearly all mammals lose the ability to digest milk early in life. The Class Mammalia is, after all, defined by the gland that produces this life-giving fluid-supplier not only of necessary nutrients but also of water and molecules that protect against continual assaults from invading organisms.

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