Humans Are Still Evolving Right Before Our Eyes. Here Are 5 Signs on Our Bodies
Key Points:
- Human evolution continues today, with physiological changes evident in traits such as lactose tolerance, starch digestion, blood oxygen delivery, and skin pigmentation.
- Lactose tolerance spread through natural selection in populations that domesticated dairy animals about 10,000 years ago, allowing 30-35% of adults globally to digest lactose without discomfort.
- Indigenous Andean populations evolved enhanced starch digestion capabilities linked to potato domestication, with gene variants providing a small but cumulative reproductive advantage over millennia.
- Tibetan high-altitude communities show adaptations improving blood oxygen saturation, directly correlating with higher live birth rates and demonstrating ongoing natural selection.
- Genetic studies reveal recent evolution in skin pigmentation among West Eurasians favoring lighter skin for vitamin D synthesis, while the rise in myopia may be driven by genes with mixed beneficial and detrimental effects through antagonistic pleiotropy.