New Evidence Suggests That Human Evolution May Be Ongoing

As public support and willingness to participate are key factors identified across the board by scientists working in this field, it is significant that researchers were able to obtain DNA data from over 200,000 people living in the United States and Britain. The research carried out in the field makes dynamic connections to the past, present and future, producing results which shape policy and popular ideas about not only the origin of the species, but where the human species is heading. Study co-author Joseph Pickrell said of the results, “It’s a subtle signal, but we find genetic evidence that natural selection is happening in modern human populations.”

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Most significantly, the team of researchers observed a decrease in the occurrence of the ApoE4 gene and CHRNA3 gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease in women above 70, and excessive smoking in men, respectively. The study is a very tangible acknowledgment that the environmental, biological and other related changes which have been occurring around us are even affecting evolution, specifically on a genetic level. There was even great consideration given to how shifting demographics in terms of the age preference expressed for having children has a link to genetic factors.

Columbia University evolutionary biologist Molly Przeworski, another of the study’s co-authors, elaborates, “It may be that men who don’t carry these harmful mutations can have more children, or that men and women who live longer can help with their grandchildren, improving their chance of survival.”

The impact of this large study is to open the discussion about the vital role which genetics plays in evolution—work begun by the efforts of the Human Genome Project, a landmark study which cleared the path for this discussion and laid the foundation for a host of important studies which would follow—and to unite a number of academic and research disciplines in a compelling way.