Tuesday, 6 May 2025

Our (Evolutionary) Future

So i found out today, Lactose intolerance is the Human default but in populations where dairy farming emerged thousands of years ago, such as Europe, we have evolved genetic mutations to our Lactose gene which allows us to now tolerate dairy.  
As dairy becomes more globally consumed, experts think that at some point we will all evolve a tolerance to dairy but our evolutionary journey is an ongoing saga so what else do they think we will evolve, or abandon as useless to our modern selves?
Someone less charitable than me may well say that this one is obvious when you look around at certain people but our brains are shrinking Smaller Brains, fossil records show that over the last 20,000 years, average brain volume has decreased by about 150 cubic centimeters or roughly the size of a tennis ball.
Anthropologists suggest as human society became more cooperative, individuals no longer had to do everything themselves therefore reducing the need for certain mental strain and such a big brain wasn't required.
As we seem to be waiting for the next pandemic to hit, evolutionary scientists  who studied European populations after the Black Death found an increased frequency of immune-related gene variants which provided resistance to plague bacteria and they apply the same to analysing COVID-19 outcomes and identified that some people carried certain immune-response genes which will be passed on to future generations making us more immune to certain virus's.
Who needs Wisdom Teeth, the Palmaris Longus Tendon in the forearm, the Plantaris Muscle in the foot and the Coccyx? Not us apparently and they are beginning to disappear  in generations as they serve no function
Nearsightedness is becoming the norm and in East Asia, 80% of under 18s are nearsighted compared to 25% just 60 years ago. Scientists put it down to more screen use and blurry vision will become an evolutionary trait
The average ages for first-time parents have increased dramatically, women are now giving birth in their mid-30s on average and evolutionary biologists are watching to see whether genetic adaptations which delay menopause and extend fertility may become the norm.
One which is really important is resistance to air pollution which is the fourth leading cause of death globally but some people have developed genetic variants that provide a degree of resilience and how the body processes and detoxifies airborne contaminants.
That's our future then, blurry eyed kids guzzling milk and never having tasted the delights of Lemsip.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

funny, "As we seem to be waiting for the next pandemic to hit, evolutionary scientists who studied European populations after the Black Death found an increased frequency of immune-related gene variants which provided resistance to plague bacteria and they apply the same to analysing COVID-19 outcomes and identified that some people carried certain immune-response genes which will be passed on to future generations making us more immune to certain virus's."

in other words, the people lacking this died leaving a greater percentage with such genetics... funny.

ps - my wife got covid twice, each of my daughters got covid three times, i never got covid... apparently i got the genetics but my offspring did not...