Is the pace of human evolution speeding up?
Global population has grown a thousand times from ten thousand years ago – from 6 million to over 6 billion. (Photo: Ross2085)
A new study says that the rate of human evolution has sped up in the past 5,000 years, and that the increase is related to the growing number of humans on Earth.
John Hawks is an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He said that people assume that the pace of evolution has slowed, because mortality has decreased. But Hawks told Earth & Sky that it’s just the opposite – today’s global trends favor speedy evolution.
John Hawks: We have more mutations because there’s more people. We have more selection because the environment has changed. And we have more movement.
What Hawks means is this. Global population has grown a thousand times from ten thousand years ago – from 6 million to over 6 billion. With more people, favorable genetic mutations – the driving force of evolution – occur more frequently. People with genes that give them immunity to disease, for example, are more likely to pass those genes on. And genes are being dispersed to more diverse populations as people migrate.
Hawks found evidence for his theory in genes from the Human Genome Project. He said it’s a good sign for the future of humanity.
John Hawks: Basically, it’s allowed our population to respond faster to the pressures we’re under. And of course, those pressures have changed.
Is the march of evolution speeding to a sprint?
Listen to an 8-minute podcast with anthropologist John Hawks
Is that it? There’s a lot more to discus. I wish you would do a much more in depth article on this subject. What’s this, “With more people, favorable genetic mutations – the driving force of evolution – occur more frequently.” Well so do unfavorable ones right? I was unconvienced by John Hawks, but then again the article was so short he never had a chance. Still love Earth and Sky though!
If evolution was speeding up, the results should be all the more evident. Thousands of plants and animals in some stage of transition after millions of years of evolving should be in some form of noticeable, apparent,visible, transition as they change from something to something else. Why is there nothing of the sort? Where are they?
Six million people to 6 billion people! That looks to me like unbridled, near exponential growth of absolute human numbers worldwide over the past several thousand years, with most of that growth occurring very recently. If we go from 6 billion people to 9 billion by 2050, as is projected by the UN Population Division, and people continue to conspicuously consume Earth’s finite resources as we are ravenously doing now, what will be left to sustain the life as we know it for our children and their children, let alone coming generations?
Are our current leaders missing something vital for future of life, human wellbeing and environmental health.
Perhaps someone can take a moment to explain how a great democracy of 300 million good people becomes perverted by a tiny, selfish confederacy of wealthy and politically powerful dunces?
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population
http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/
What a teaser! Where’s the rest of the article?
I agree, this article needs to be longer, and honestly, I don’t believe this is true. With more people we have a higher rate of survival, sure this means there’s more mutations, but it means there’s more good AND bad mutations. How is this evolution? Isn’t evolution survival of the fittest? With no genes being weeded out I can’t see how we could possibly be evolving at all, let alone 100 times faster. We need a better explanation than just: “There’s more people, so there’s more genes.”
Thanks to everyone for the response. Keep in mind that Earth & Sky has only 90 seconds to explain some pretty complex science. But there is in fact more!
John Hawks does a fantastic job of explaining his theory in this 8 minute podcast.
I strongly recommend that you give it a listen if you want to get to the bottom of this.
But here’s my basic, longer, explanation: With a bigger population, there’s more chance of random mutations. These could be good, bad, or neutral. There are more bad mutations than good mutations. In fact, it’s extremely rare that favorable mutations occur. But the bad mutations don’t get passed down, because people with bad mutations are at a disadvantage in reproducing. They might not survive past childhood. Thus, the bad mutations ARE weeded out.
But people carrying favorable mutations (think resistance against a disease like malaria) tend to survive, and reproduce, and pass down those favorable genes. As the generations pass, these genes become more and more common, because these are the people who reproduce best. So eventually, the whole local population could end up with a genetic resistance to malaria – and that’s evolution. Humans don’t look too much different than we did 5,000 years ago, but we are far better adapted to survive.
Watch for another show with John Hawks coming up in the next week.
read the book: FUTURE SHOCK by Alvin Toffler if you want a more indepth look at this concept.
The variables that the science man has not spoken to are the chemical and especially mercury chromosone problems that he must add into any anthropological “Theory” before making too many statements. Within the last month,there was a report that came out that Philadelphia was the ugliest “Genetically” city in the US. The mercury leaking from the deep coal mines in that area have created this problem and my committe had warned the Federal Government over 30 years ago to build a cement dam to stop the aquifers flowing into the coal where it melts the coal out and gets in to that aquifer. Well,of course,NOW you see the results. The other parts of the story I have commentary on is that evolution is a misnomer in many respects. We did not crawl out of the sea and we were not monkeys either.All of mankind and all animal and plant species were genetically engineered on this planet and others also.The chinese did not originate on this planet,nor did certain genetic strains of Russians,The Black race also came from other planets.But here is the rest after that,we ALL came here from different systems and there are still dinosaurs and cave men looking genetics in our galaxy,and I know that may be a hard one to swallow,but us old Earth Scientists are taught genetic and earth history in our schools that main stream schools just do not have access to.There is even more to the genetics process that has everything to do with the “Soul” that inhabits every living ,thinking thing.That souls origins where there is the basic programming also has inherent with it the blueprint of its original provider so when that soul meets the ovum and the sperm and starts the formation of the brain to create the genetic mix that makes everyone and every animal,it provides its blueprint. I assure you.So anthropologists have another factor to consider,please do. Tom Hughes
I work for a high-tech marketing company in Boulder.
link: advair powder, 2006 advair warning
Tom, perhaps you would like to enlighten us in regards to your views on human origins. Are your comments based on the fact that we are all born of ancient stars and therefore our origins must be viewed as so? What is your definition of evolution? Your comments are not very clear. Of course, i am not an “old earth scientist” – consider your audience and elaborate. did they not teach you that in your school?