The future of humanity’s genes
People are moving into cities to start careers and earn more money, and they’re putting off family until later. But the older the parents, the harder it is to reproduce. So Hawks said that evolution may respond by choosing genes that make it easier to reproduce later in life. (Credit: Ed Schipul)
Our culture today will determine how our descendants look in the future. That’s according to anthropologist John Hawks at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He says that our genes – and the direction of our future evolution – are influenced by cultural trends.
Hawks said that people today are doing two things: moving to cities and having kids later in life.
Genes get passed on when they give us an advantage to survive and reproduce in the environment we live in, and that’s what influences evolution. Historically, people have not lived well in cities. They were breeding grounds for disease and mortality was high. Now, people are moving into cities to start careers and earn more money, and they’re putting off family until later. But the older the parents, the harder it is to reproduce. So Hawks said that evolution may respond by choosing genes that make it easier to reproduce later in life.
But Hawks added there’s also the possibility that humans will bypass natural selection with genetic engineering and designer kids – and parents will directly decide which genes get passed on.
Our thanks to:
John Hawks
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI
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I always though humans would evelve in to a “Q” type figure like in Star Trek!
That’s kinda like Gundam Seed, where people are born like the parents want them born (Blue eyes, ‘pink hair’, and such)... THat’s scary….