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Research finds rapid evolution
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by Pedro Oliveira Jr.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Research conducted by a University of Wisconsin professor found human evolution has advanced faster in the past 40,000 years than ever before.
The findings contradict a commonly accepted theory that the evolutionary process has slowed or even halted within the human species.
According to the research, in only the past 5,000 years, positive natural selection has occurred at a rate nearly 100 times higher than any other human evolution period. This has happened through an exponential growth in population due to the development of agriculture and medications.
UW anthropologist John Hawks, University of Utah anthropologist Gregory Cochran and Eric Wang, a statistical geneticist at Affymetrix, a biotechnology company in Santa Clara, Calif., conducted the research.
The study brought international attention to UW as more than 100 news outlets have reported on the findings. According to Wang, as of Wednesday, 216 newspapers had reported on the research.
Hawks said the finding may lead to a very broad rethinking of human evolution, especially in the view that modern culture has essentially relaxed the need for physical genetic changes in humans to improve survival.
"We are more different genetically from people living 5,000 years ago than they were different from Neanderthals," he said in a statement.
Researchers said the exponential population growth and cultural shifts have actually increased the population, increasing positive natural selection.
“In evolutionary terms, cultures that grow slowly are at a disadvantage, but the massive growth of human populations has led to far more genetic mutations,” Hawks said. “And every mutation that is advantageous to people has a chance of being selected and driven toward fixation. What we are catching is an exceptional time.”
The typical example, Wang said, was the invention of antibiotics, which almost eliminated the rate of mortality observed before the arrival of such medications.
These advancements, however, have not eliminated the effects of natural selection. According to researchers, by creating a different environment through agricultural advancements, the humans have created other challenges to evolution.
"One of the typical things one will encounter when we first started domestication is instead of killing our preys, we actually have basically animals sticking around, close by," Wang said. "That basically facilitated some disease, some viruses that only existed in wild animals and now come into human contact."
Wang said that is one form of self-created selective pressure, and another includes the invention of agricultural advances developing a complex society.
"Instead of saying, 'Go straight, kill a deer, eat it,' people have to free up their mind and be able to articulate ideas that were otherwise abstract," Wang said. "It's a different layer of selection."
Anonymous (December 14, 2007 @ 10:41am):
ME no Like New Way of life!
Me want to go straight, kill deer, eat it!
Not sit in cubicle and articulate!
-5,000 yr old man
Anonymous (December 20, 2007 @ 8:52am):
i dont understand if evolution is possible what comes after humans. If everything evolves how come everything returns to chaos, you clean your room it gets messy again our world's natural state is chaotic not evolving
Anonymous (December 26, 2007 @ 4:24pm):
Re: 12-20-07 "I don't understand evolution." There, I fixed that for you.
Anonymous (December 30, 2007 @ 3:50pm):
yes, true, chaos seems to be rampant in the world, but true human excellence is a force against chaos. Rooms always have a tendency to get messy, but as I grow more intelligent, my living spaces become more functional and easier to maintain. That is, wherein my room used to get messier, now, messiness is less of a problem and now my room reeks of pure energy. It is an extension of my psychological self.
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