Providing
the strongest evidence yet that humans are still evolving, researchers have
detected some 700 regions of the human genome where genes appear to have been
reshaped by natural selection, a principal force of evolution, within the last
5,000 to 15,000 years.
The genes
that show this evolutionary change include some responsible for the senses of
taste and smell, digestion, bone structure, skin color and brain function.
Three populations were studied,
Africans, East Asians and Europeans. In each, a mostly different set of genes
had been favored by natural selection. The selected genes, which affect skin
color, hair texture and bone structure, may underlie the present-day
differences in racial appearance.
The study
of selected genes may help reconstruct many crucial events in the human past.
It may also help physical anthropologists explain why people over the world
have such a variety of distinctive appearances, even though their genes are on
the whole similar, said Dr. Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic Project
of the National Geographic Society.
OriginalArticle:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/science/07evolve.htmlrref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=search&contentPlacement=39&pgtype=sectionfront
OriginalArticle:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/science/07evolve.htmlrref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=search&contentPlacement=39&pgtype=sectionfront
Scientist are always conducting new research. This one in general is very interesting. Every individual differs in their looks, shape, size and more. Although scientists say that people have similar genes these genes express difference in each individual. I think this is a great topic to do more research on.
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