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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Evolution Revolution"
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READER SCRIPT
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GO, HUMANS! THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. EVOLUTION ISN'T REALLY A RACE. BUT, A NEW STUDY LED BY JOHN HAWKS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON SAYS THAT, IF IT WERE, HUMANS ARE RUNNING FASTER THAN EVER. THIS IS REALLY AN "EVOLUTION REVOLUTION"--BECAUSE IT GOES AGAINST CONVENTIONAL THINKING THAT SAYS THAT HUMAN EVOLUTION HAS SLOWED TO A CRAWL, OR EVEN STOPPED. BY ANALYZING DATA FROM THE INTERNATIONAL "HAP-MAP" PROJECT, THE RESEARCHERS CONCLUDE THAT WE ARE MORE DIFFERENT GENETICALLY FROM PEOPLE LIVING FIVE-THOUSAND YEARS AGO, THAN THEY WERE DIFFERENT FROM NEANDERTHALS. THEY OBSERVE THAT, THROUGH POSITIVE SELECTION, HUMAN POPULATIONS SEEM TO VERY RAPIDLY INCREASE RESISTANCE TO DISEASE, OR BE ABLE TO MAKE NEW LIFESTYLE ADAPTATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, A GENE THAT MAKES PEOPLE RESISTANT TO H-I-V/AIDS, FOUND IN 10-PERCENT OF EUROPEANS TODAY, CAME TO BE JUST A SHORT FOUR-THOUSAND YEARS AGO--POSSIBLY, AT THE TIME, TO COMBAT SMALLPOX. DID YOU KNOW THAT HUMANS GENETICALLY CONDITIONED THEMSELVES TO BE ABLE TO DRINK MILK AS ADULTS? AS DOMESTIC DAIRY FARMING BECAME POPULAR, NORTHERN EUROPEANS EVOLVED A LACTASE GENE THAT ENABLES US, EVEN TODAY, TO DIGEST MILK AFTER OUR TEEN YEARS. PHENOMENAL POPULATION GROWTH HAS LED TO A HUGE NUMBER OF GENETIC MUTATIONS--MANY OF THEM ADVANTAGEOUS AND PERMANENT. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
