Researchers Find Evidence of Microevolution in Humans

Pretty crazy to think evolution in humans is still happening.

https://www.ign.com/articles/researchers-find-evidence-of-microevolution-in-humans

Most people learn about the phenomena of evolution in their middle school and high school science classes, but researchers have recently discovered evidence of “microevolution” with noticeable differences between generations of human beings.

According to September’s Journal of Anatomy, via Sky News, more babies are being born without wisdom teeth, with an extra artery in their arm, or with smaller jaws and shorter faces as a result of microevolution.

"A lot of people thought humans have stopped evolving. But our study shows we are still evolving - faster than at any point in the past 250 years," Dr. Teghan Lucas of Flinders University said.

The reasoning behind fewer teeth in human mouths can be attributed to human faces getting shorter and mouths getting smaller, leaving less room for teeth to develop. Natural selection and humans' increased ability to chew food has resulted in fewer humans developing wisdom teeth.

Why would we stop evolving? Seems kind of arrogant to assume we've peaked.

I always thought we did because of School and my pessimism towards life it's fascinating to know now that this isn't it.

Not sure why this is news.

I was under the assumption that micro evolution has been well established, is supported by an abundance of evidence, and is generally agreed upon within the scientific community, and that it was macro evolution that was far more contentious.

yup. we don't really have much control yet at our genetic level. its safe to assume that the rate of mutation in our dna is at least the same as it has been for tens of thousands of years.

Oh, no. It's all downhill from here, don't ya know! Macro devolution.

Not that we would stop evolving, but a lot of the forces which we have considered to be dominant are less dominant than they used to be.

Evolution doesn't stop, unless the species goes extinct.

Good. Hopefully this means no more you know who’s!

@thegreatchomp: who, me?

Why would we stop evolving? The world is changing so much, I would assume the process is speeding up.

@claymoreman23: ..........No........

@MirkoS77: Macro evolution is absolutely not contentious. The only people insinuating that are generally creationists or cranks. I've always hated the term 'micro/macro evolution'. Evolution is evolution.

It's the equivalent of saying, 'I believe in centimeters but not kilometers!'.

I’d like a tail please. Always been a bit jealous I can’t have more ways to express myself without talking.

That's pretty cool, and I suppose it makes sense.

What I'm curious about is how they noticed this is actually evolution and not just, I don't know, mutations. Evolution occurs over hundreds of thousands of years, sometimes millions of years. Seems like a long gap to make observations.

The thing about wisdom teeth is neat, it always bugs me how humans are born with these things that are not needed and just lead to painful surgery or a mouth full of too many teeth.

Wake me up when we starting using another 10% of our brain and can levitate objects, though.

The body is going to keep on truckin', as they say, whether or not the mind accepts the science of evolution or not.

lol right? Imagine the body language you could convey with a tail! And if it's prehensile? All the better; you'd never need to sit again, you could just hang around all day.

Then when someone asks you what you are doing you could be like "Oh, just hanging out" and they'd be all "Har har very funny"

i have 1 wisdom tooth missing. dentist called it "congentitively absent".

That sounds like a smart person insult, to which I would probably have said "No, YOU'RE congentitively absent!"

takes one to know one!

The extra artery is there to sustain our eating habits and the evolution of sitting.

@uninspiredcup: I thought our evolution would be somewhat halted by the fact its not longer the fittest who pass on their genes.

Pretty much anyone in modern society can have children, so our society has removed natural selection from the equation.

Actually it became a Charlie Bigham so i just placed it within the oven..!! Don't get lots fowl for two so i had a boiled egg with my 3 mouthfuls of chook a handful of rice and a bit of brown bread..!!

OK dude so I appreciate you must like my posts but what are you going with the chicken and egg theory..?? I actually said that here:

• Off-Topic Discussion »What have you cooked recently?

Friday made chicken tikka masala with pilau rice.

Actually it was a Charlie Bigham so i just put it in the oven..!! Don't get much chicken for 2 so i had a boiled egg with my 3 mouthfuls of chicken a handful of rice and a piece of brown bread..!!

As for the topic I'm undecided. Sorry warmblur got a bit defensive over plagiarism issues..!!

There's absolutely no scientific reason to think we stopped evolving. It's an endless process.

Can confirm, I'm 41 and I never had wisdom teeth, they simply didn't exist in my jaw.

Makes you wonder, a couple hundred years ago, before modern dentistry, were wisdom teeth really that bad?

It does haha.

I think maybe they had bigger concerns. Like if one or two of their ten kids would make it to adulthood.

Old thread you guys.