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."