Evolution has a beginning…

The evolution of humanity continues, scientists say

RIA NewsThe biological evolution of our species has not stopped, and it continues at the same "prehistoric" pace, despite a sharp decline in child and adult mortality and fertility and the alleged absence of natural selection, scientists say in an article published in the journal Evolution (Bolund et al., Effects of the demographic transition on the genetic variations and covariances of human life-history traits – VM). 

This conclusion was reached by Finnish geneticists and evolutionary biologists who analyzed several centuries of the genealogical history of Finland and compared changes in appearance, height, life expectancy, success in family affairs and other human traits with mutations in their DNA.

The authors of the article took advantage of the fact that many families in Finland maintain extensive genealogical archives, the very first records in which were often made in the 18th century or even in previous historical eras. In total, Virpi Lumaa from the University of Sheffield (UK) and his colleague Elisabeth Bolund from Uppsala University (Sweden) managed to find more than 10 thousand similar people, collect DNA samples and study the details of their ancestors' lives.

Comparing their genomes, scientists unexpectedly found that about 4-18% of all variations in Finns' traits in the 18th and 19th centuries were due not to socio-economic factors or the peculiarities of their environment, but to genetic mutations. Even a relatively small "contribution" of genes to the development of human traits allows us to say, as scientists explain, that natural selection has not "died" and continues to work.

According to scientists, in the last century, the "contribution" of genes to the variations of these human traits has not decreased, but, on the contrary, has grown noticeably. They explain the growing influence of natural selection on our evolution by the fact that now the choice of partners for procreation is almost unaffected by various social norms and restrictions that existed in previous eras.

"It is quite possible that life in modern society gives our genes more freedom in expressing their "thoughts" and preferences due to the weakening of the influence of social and psychological norms on how we continue our kind. Thanks to this, the contribution of natural selection to the evolution of mankind has increased markedly in the last few generations," concludes Bolund.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru06.02.2015