An eternal question by almost everyone – Are humans evolving or are we at an evolutionary equilibria (if that even exists). Jerry says we are evolving still. An interesting read indeed !!!
The one question I’m inevitably asked after lecturing on evolution to a general audience is this: “Are humans still evolving?” What they really want to know, of course, is whether we’re getting smarter, taller, handsomer, and so on. Well, with respect to those traits I always say, “I have no idea,” but humans are still evolving, albeit in ways that don’t excite most people. I’ve posted about this twice (see here and here), and in recent times we have evidence for H. sapiens evolving to produce, in women, earlier age of first birth, later age of last birth and (also in women) increases in height in some places and decreases in others. Studies in the U.S., which haven’t been conducted elsewhere, show the recent evolution of reduced cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure, and an increased age of menopause.
The U.S-specific data brings up the question of whether even if the entire…
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