The Economist. Human Evolution: Darwin’s Children. Print edition Science and technology. 2007. Edited print
The Economist discusses Human Evolution and how it has speeded up over the past 80,000 years. It indicates how this raises awkward question about the concept of “race. Argued from the article, more bad science research has been done on the concept of human race compared to any other field in biology. This bad concept, according to The Economist, is generated from preconceived ideas that there are individuals who are better than others. The concepts are not interested in research and investigation of regional variations in one particular species and the evolution pressure that envisaged them.
The article further addresses breeding early and breeding often. It lays emphasis on the central Africans well known pygmies the Aka, Mbuti, and the Efe who lives in forest and compares them with Non-African pygmies like the Philippines’ Batak and Aeta, who do not live in the forest. The article establishes that pygmies live in places of low food supply and therefore their small stature can live with small amount of foods. The article further notes that Homo sapiens are continually undergoing local evolution. Some of the factors that have lead to continued evolution are food, environment and climate.
Douglas, Kate. Evolution and us. (Cover story). Article New Scientist; 13th Dec 2006. Vol. 189 Issue 2542, p30-33, 4p, 2 color
This article focuses on various questions that are related to human evolution. In keeping with Douglas (30) some scientists believe that human evolution has stopped, although there are those who believe it is becoming even faster. In keeping with the article, recent discoveries indicate that human evolution stopped dead approximately 50,000 years ago. Factually, the article indicates that there are several reasons to believe evolution is continuous i.e. the 2005 discovery by Bruce Lehn on the genes that are involved in brain development which the article emphasizes has developed emerged in the recent human history. The major concern by the author is whether human are still evolving, which basically means moral and intellectual improvement by cultural changes.
In reference to Douglas (30) the discovery of the ongoing evolution in humans has raised many questions some of which are very uncomfortable. For instance, what if Pinker’s fears are confirmed and thus racial groups turn out to be biologically comparable? Are human driven by the force of natural selection, now that human survival is less dependent on genes and not technology? What might human species look like after 1000 years of evolution? To what extent could a genome that is gradually changing lead to change in attributes humans value i.e. intelligence?
Correspondingly, human evolution seem like a mine field that must not be ignored and if asked whether human continue to evolve majority of scientist will tend to concur with pinker (Douglas 33); that is, it depends on what one means by evolution. In keeping with the article, the loosest sense of human evolution is simply the change over time in a gene pool. Confirmable, this article argues that all species continue to evolve, even those that reproduce through cloning since DNA inevitably changes over time through indiscriminate mutation, with the sense that some species will have more progeny than others. The article further notes that vast human population is an indication that human gene boat attains new mutations quicker than ever. The article further notes that people are likely to meet and bear children with people who are similar with them i.e. assertive mating – for intelligence, mental health, personal traits, attractiveness, as well as, physical health – thus making it more efficient through education, speed dating and internet dating. In keeping with Douglas (36), a thousand years from now people will be more intelligent, beautiful, emotionally stable and symmetrical healthy, credit to 40 generations of genetic screening.
Work Cited
Douglas, Kate. Evolution and us. (Cover story). Article New Scientist; 3/11/2006, Vol. 189 Issue 2542, p30-33, 4p, 2 color
The Economist. Human Evolution: Darwin’s Children. Print edition Science and technology. Dec 13th 2007. Print edition.
