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Human Evolution Has Accelerated to Favour Traits Like Red Hair, Lower Body Fat: Study
Ground News • • health
Key Points:
- A large-scale ancient DNA study analyzing nearly 16,000 individuals over 10,000 years in West Eurasia reveals that natural selection has played a much greater role in shaping modern human genomes than previously understood.
- Researchers identified 500 gene variants that have significantly increased or decreased in frequency during the last 10,000 years, indicating accelerated human evolution in this period.
- Traits such as red hair, susceptibility to coeliac disease, and narrow waists have become more common, suggesting ongoing evolutionary changes with potential health implications for modern populations.
- The increase in red hair gene variants is believed to have been advantageous around 4,000 years ago, though the exact reasons remain unclear.
- These findings highlight the dynamic nature of human evolution and its continuing impact on genetic diversity and health worldwide.
