11 December 2007

More special than I thought

"10,000 years ago, nobody had blue eyes."

This, from a newly-released DNA study that proves evolution has not only continued, but actually sped up, in humans since the introduction of agriculture 10,000 years ago:
"The pace of human evolution has been increasing at a stunning rate since our ancestors began spreading through Europe, Asia and Africa 40,000 years ago, quickening to 100 times historic levels after agriculture became widespread. Altogether, the recent genetic changes account for 7% of the human genome, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Races as we know them today didn't exist until fewer than 20,000 years ago, when genes involved in skin pigmentation emerged, Hawks said. Paler skin allowed people in northern latitudes to absorb more sunlight to make vitamin D."

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