Now the certified genius @jtung5 is telling us about her amazing work on baboons and health.

The work is motivated by "fundamental cause theory" about the role of SES and social support on human health. Jenny thinks it is fundamental because it is ancient.

The Amboseli baboon project begins with work by Jeanna Altmann (starting in 1971!), and has continued with Susan Alberts, Joan Silk, Beth Archie, and Jenny Tung. It's a powerhouse of women biologists.

Female-female kinship bonds and female-male dominance relationships are a form of connectedness that seems to increase longevity in the wild.

There is broad phylogenetic support for the effects of social connection on lifespan. Nicely reviewed by Noah Snyder-Mackler ( @SMack_Lab) et al in Science last year.

Dyadic Sociality Index is a measure of bond strengths to top 3 partners, uncorrelated with dominance rank. Shows up in stronger effects of immune responses to bacterial LPS challenge.

Low dominance is associated with gene expression related to inflammatory response.

Interleukin 6 is a marker of inflammation, often increased in isolated people. Also correlated with poor dyadic bonds in baboons.

In many ways, and somewhat surprisingly, high baboon rank resembles poor social bond strength.