Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride
20/07/10 15:19 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Submitted by S. Pelech - Kinexus on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 15:19.
While "natural selection" in response to changing environments most likely played the major role in creation of the different races of humanity, it is clear that selective breeding in a relatively small number of generations can lead to profound changes in physiology. This is very evident in the domestication of farm animals and pets, and particularly in breeds of dogs.
The relatively small differences in the genomes of humans points to an apparent origin of most human todays from a very tiny pool of ancestors about 200,000 years ago. It is likely that our species almost went extinct at that time, because there is evidence for the existence of many other related hominids even over 5 million years ago. We have made a remarkable recovery and re-shaped much of the planet as a consequence of our success as a species.
The geographic isolation of humans and relative inbreeding has permitted certain traits to predominate in the various human races in the past. However, natural environmental factors and distance are no longer the driving factors in human evolution in the past 100 years. The human lifestyle has changed dramatically to the point where obesity and reduced fertility are common. Yet the average human lifespan has markedly increased with many elderly people in extremely good health.
With increasing technology and an expanding population of over 6.8 billion people, there are clearly new factors at play that will drive human evolution. It is inevitable that eventually we will be genetically engineering human genomes to get rid of deleterious mutations, but very soon afterwards we will be looking to make improvements. For example, the re-introduction of gills for breathing underwater may lead to an offshoot of humanity that is a truly an aquatic ape. Survival in space and on other worlds will also produce extensive changes in human physiology. Improving the adaptability of humans to synthetic prosthetics and other devices will permit human cyborgs. These are only a few examples of what probably awaits humanity in the next hundred years.
No! Human evolution is not slowing down. It is just getting started.
Link to the original blog post.
While "natural selection" in response to changing environments most likely played the major role in creation of the different races of humanity, it is clear that selective breeding in a relatively small number of generations can lead to profound changes in physiology. This is very evident in the domestication of farm animals and pets, and particularly in breeds of dogs.
The relatively small differences in the genomes of humans points to an apparent origin of most human todays from a very tiny pool of ancestors about 200,000 years ago. It is likely that our species almost went extinct at that time, because there is evidence for the existence of many other related hominids even over 5 million years ago. We have made a remarkable recovery and re-shaped much of the planet as a consequence of our success as a species.
The geographic isolation of humans and relative inbreeding has permitted certain traits to predominate in the various human races in the past. However, natural environmental factors and distance are no longer the driving factors in human evolution in the past 100 years. The human lifestyle has changed dramatically to the point where obesity and reduced fertility are common. Yet the average human lifespan has markedly increased with many elderly people in extremely good health.
With increasing technology and an expanding population of over 6.8 billion people, there are clearly new factors at play that will drive human evolution. It is inevitable that eventually we will be genetically engineering human genomes to get rid of deleterious mutations, but very soon afterwards we will be looking to make improvements. For example, the re-introduction of gills for breathing underwater may lead to an offshoot of humanity that is a truly an aquatic ape. Survival in space and on other worlds will also produce extensive changes in human physiology. Improving the adaptability of humans to synthetic prosthetics and other devices will permit human cyborgs. These are only a few examples of what probably awaits humanity in the next hundred years.
No! Human evolution is not slowing down. It is just getting started.
Link to the original blog post.