tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post5420903115880876731..comments2024-01-04T04:11:55.717+02:00Comments on Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog: Some comments on Steve Jones and human evolutionDienekeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02082684850093948970noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-89937066838114966782008-10-08T16:29:00.000+03:002008-10-08T16:29:00.000+03:00Human evolution is over? What the...??? A genetici...Human evolution is over? What the...??? A geneticist is saying this? Seriously? Is he joking?<BR/><BR/>Frankly, I'd wonder if this Jones guy has read any recent linkage disequilibrium studies. Has he not read John Hawks? What about Hawks' study showing that human evolution is actually moving faster now that at any point in the past? <BR/><BR/>We have taken ourselves out of nature and are functioning under a kind of relaxed selection (which may be the point that Jones is trying to make) but it has relaxed in certain vectors only; and that, in itself, will result in a change in gene frequencies over time, which is pretty much the definition of evolution. But even that simple surface argument aside, the reality is that genes are being discovered all the time which show evidence of MASSIVE selective pressure in humans. The 7-repeat allele of the DRD4 gene, for example. And ASPM. Certain immunity haplotypes are being selected for, and others are being selected against. We are in the midst of numerous selective sweeps. <BR/><BR/>http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/genomics/selection/wang_2006_recent_selection.html<BR/><BR/>In a nut shell, it may seem like evolution has stalled in humans, but that is not the case. Even if we’re not being eaten by lions anymore, even if we don’t have to run to catch our dinners, the reality is that some people will still leave behind more descendants than others, and to the extent which that differential is impacted by a person’s genetic make-up, evolution will continue.Kosmohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05156165962330239126noreply@blogger.com