There is an interesting article in the NY Times that was published a couple of weeks ago but is now servicing as the basis for a debate in the NY Times. The article is about a new book by Nobel winning economist Robert Fogel and it focuses on human evolution and how it has been affected by developments in technology and public health in the past few hundreds of years. The article can be read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/books/robert-w-fogel-investigates-human-evolution.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Quoting from the article: |“The rate of technological and human physiological change |in the 20th century has been remarkable,” Mr. Fogel said |in an telephone interview from Chicago, where he is the |director of the Center for Population Economics at the |University of Chicago’s business school. “Beyond that, |a synergy between the improved technology and physiology |is more than the simple addition of the two.” | |This “technophysio evolution,” powered by advances in food |production and public health, has so outpaced traditional |evolution, the authors argue, that people today stand apart not |just from every other species, but from all previous generations |of Homo sapiens as well. For the debate inspired by this research, see the Room for Debate section on the NYT website with the heading "Do We Want to Be Supersize Humans?" (supersize in a good way, not in a MacDonalds way); see: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/05/12/do-we-want-to-be-supersize-humans?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1 One of the biological indicators used in the research is physical height because it is sensitive to a variety of biological and environmental factors. One study that examines the height of women as a function of the income level of the country they live has been published in PLoS One and can be accessed here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018962 So, if a student asks "Are humans experiencing evolutionary pressures now?", this research arguably answers "Yes". -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=10562 or send a blank email to leave-10562-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
