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5 Signs Humans Are Still Evolving
2865
Jessica Hullinger
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filed under: Lists, science
PETA once asked the Pet Shop Boys
to consider changing their name to
Rescue Shelter Boys.
IMAGE CREDIT: THINKSTOCK
When we think of human evolution, our minds wander back to the thousands of years it took
natural selection to produce the modern-day man. But are we still changing as a species, even
today? New research suggests that, despite modern technology and industrialization, humans
continue to evolve. "It is a common misunderstanding that evolution took place a long time
ago, and that to understand ourselves we must look back to the hunter-gatherer days of
humans," says Dr. Virpi Lummaa from the University of Sheffield's department of animal and
plant sciences.
But not only are we still evolving, we're doing so even faster than before. In the last 10,000
years, the pace of our evolution has sped up 100 times, creating more mutations in our genes,
and more natural selections from those mutations. Here are some clues that show humans are
continuing to evolve.
MOSTPOPULAR
1. WE DRINK MILK
Historically, the gene that regulated a human's ability to digest lactose shut down as they were
weaned off of their mother's breast milk. But when we began domesticating cows, sheep and
goats, being able to drink milk became a nutritionally advantageous quality, and people with
the genetic mutation that allowed them to digest lactose were better able to propagate their
genes.
A 2006 study suggests this tolerance for lactose was still developing as early as 3,000 years
ago in East Africa. That genetic mutation for digesting milk is now carried by more than 95
percent of Northern European descendants.
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2000 Would Look Like
2. WE'RE LOSING OUR WISDOM TEETH
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I
Our ancestors had much bigger jaws than we do, which helped them chew a tough diet of
roots, nuts and leaves. And what meat they ate they tore apart with their teeth, all of which led
to worn down chompers that needed replacing. Enter the wisdom teeth: A third set of molars is
believed to be the evolutionary answer to accomodate our ancestors' eating habits.
Today, we have utensils to cut our food. Our meals are softer and easier to chew, and our jaws
are much smaller as a result, which is why wisdom teeth are often impacted when they come
in — there just isn't room for them. Like the appendix, wisdom teeth have become vestigial
organs. One estimate says 35 percent of the population is born without wisdom teeth, and
some say they will disappear altogether.
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3. WE'RE RESISTING DISEASES
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In 2007, a group of researchers looking for signs of recent evolution uncovered 1,800 genes
that have only become prevalent in humans in the last 40,000 years, many of which are
devoted to fighting infectious diseases like malaria. More than a dozen new genetic variants
for fighting malaria are spreading rapidly among Africans. Another study found that natural
selection has favored city-dwellers. Living in cities has produced a genetic variant that allows
us to be more resistant to diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy. "This seems to be an elegant
example of evolution in action," says Dr. Ian Barnes from the School of Biological Sciences at
Royal Holloway. "It flags up the importance of a very recent aspect of our evolution as a
species, the development of cities as a selective force."
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4. OUR BRAINS ARE SHRINKING
MOSTPOPULAR
Brain scan image via Shutterstock
While we may like to believe our big brains make us smarter than the rest of the animal world,
our brains have actually been shrinking over the last 30,000 years. The average volume of the
human brain has decreased from 1,500 cubic centimeters to 1,350 cubic centimeters, which
is equivalent to a chunk the size of a tennis ball.
There are several different conclusions as to why this is: One group of researchers suspects
our shrinking brains mean we are in fact getting dumber. Historically, brain size decreased as
societies became larger and more complex, suggesting that the safety net of modern society
negated the correlation between intelligence and survival. But another, more encouraging
theory says our brains are shrinking not because we're getting dumber, but because smaller
brains are more efficient. This theory suggests that, as they shrink, our brains are being
rewired to work faster but take up less room. There's also a theory that smaller brains are an
evolutionary advantage because they make us less aggressive beings, allowing us to work
together to solve problems, rather than tear each other to shreds.
1.
What 1939 Thought Fashion
in 2000 Would Look Like
2.
The Most Expensive College
in Each State
3.
42 Quotes From Germans
About American Troops After
World War I
4.
83 Old Slang Phrases We
Should Bring Back
5.
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Scientist Figurines
5. WE HAVE BLUE EYES
Blue eyes image via Shutterstock
Originally, we all had brown eyes. But about 10,000 years ago, someone who lived near the
Black Sea developed a genetic mutation that turned brown eyes blue. While the reason blue
eyes have persisted remains a bit of a mystery, one theory is that they act as a sort of paternity
test. “There is strong evolutionary pressure for a man not to invest his paternal resources in
another man’s child,” says the lead author of a study on the development of our baby blues.
Because it is virtually impossible for two blue-eyed mates to create a brown-eyed baby, our
blue-eyed male ancestors may have sought out blue-eyed mates as a way of ensuring fidelity.
This would partially explain why, in a recent study, blue-eyed men rated blue-eyed women as
more attractive compared to brown-eyed women, whereas females and brown-eyed men
expressed no preference.
May 30, 2012 - 11:44am
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