From Trees To Caves To Town
And speaking of primitive man, there're a couple interesting news items worth noting about our human ancestry, though perhaps somewhat contradictory. Last year, talking with Darren Naish, the zoologist, I asked about then fairly recent research suggesting that humans have evolved and continue to evolve locally. Naish thought the research significant — a hopeful sign for overall human evolution — though it is somewhat politically incorrect as it tends to validate our colloquial notions of race. In any case, that research is now making it into the mainstream, as reported in the New York Times. Separately, a German scientist has called into question the date of earliest human settlements, extending it by some 400,000 years. Now, I'm skeptical about such a jump and, moreover, if humans have been evolving as suggested above then 400,000 years would seem an excessive period of relative stability. Nevertheless, the current estimate of first human settlements having taken place only 10,000 years ago probably does need adjustment. It just doesn't feel right to me.
Posted by George Kenney on June 27, 2007 9:56 PM 
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Evolution often goes in fits and spurts, often with long periods of 'nothing much happening' interspersed with shorter periods of rapid change. This is usually linked to rapid environmental change — both biological and physical. E.g., the sudden spread of of a predator into a previously inaccessible area, or the arrival of a large lump of rock from outer space. The 400,000 years quoted doesn't seem all that surprising to me. Some genera of bivalves which live buried in the mud on the deep ocean floor have hardly changed at all over a period of hundreds of millions of years, due to the highly stable and unchanging environment in which they are found. Ditto the Coelocanths.
If humans are still evolving what is causing the differential in reproductive success? One might imagine that in the modern era intelligence is actively being bred out of the human race.
Posted by: David Wilson | June 29, 2007 12:03 PM
An interesting report in the journal Science: Scientists studying the Blue Moon butterfly (native to Australia and found across the south Pacific) say that a genetic change in the male of the species is the fastest known example of natural selection. The new gene suppresses a bacteria that had been killing off the males and keeping them to only 1% on the population. The mutation took place in less than a year and in only ten generations. At the end of one year, the ratio of males had risen to 39%. An article about it is here: Blue Moon
Posted by: Pandabonium | July 13, 2007 1:57 AM