Fig. 1.

Common kinds of explanations for medically relevant conditions. Bold text indicates distinct kinds of explanation. Bullet points list common examples from evolutionary medicine, which are not mutually exclusive with each other. For a closer breakdown of mutually exclusive evolutionary explanations, see Hunt (2023a). Note that mutation–selection balance is easily identifiable in cases implying historical negative reproductive success, but non‐adaptive genes can also be mutations awaiting negative selection that are reproductively successful due to other circumstances.