Human evolution has widely been associated with our past ancestors from millions of years

ago, however humans are definitely still evolving. Evolution is derived from mutations that
cause these accidental changes to our genetics and are passed along to the next generation
of descendants. Natural selection also plays a large factor in determining the survivability of
individuals that carry genetic mutations and their ability to reproduce. This means that
humans are still evolving through minute changes generation after generation, but the long
time scale makes it hard to study the human evolution process as it can span across
thousands of years.

Many footprints of human adaptation has been left across generations of evolution,
however it has been difficult for scientists to directly study its operation in humans. One of
the clearest cases of recent human evolution in the human genome is the mutation that
enables dairy digestion [1]. With the rise of dairy production and consumption thousands of
years ago, the mutation in lactase gene is one of the evidence that some humans have
evolved so that their body can digest dairy, whereas some are still lactose intolerant. There
are many other cases like these, where the availability of food sources in various parts of
the world have had different effects on human evolution. Richard Lewontin stated that “to
study the properties of natural selection would require a massive study, in which genetic
and genealogical information is obtained for hundreds of thousands of people” [2]. Thus,
after years of data biometric collections, scientists are able to better grasp different
mutations that affect survival.

A particular study carried by biological scientists in Columbia University, have concluded

that mutations which lower survival rates should be present at lower frequency in older
individuals [3]. 60,000 individuals from California’s GERA cohort and 150,000 individuals
from the UK Biobank were studied to identify mutations that change in frequency with age.
Two genome variants were identified to lower survivability, the APOE gene which triggers
Alzheimer’s disease and the CHRNA3 gene, associated with heavy smoking [4]. Researchers
have also identified 700 common mutations that influence height and hundreds of
mutations that shape variation in one of 42 traits [5]. These are all characteristics of
mutations and evolution that shape and determine an individual’s appearance, health,
survival and natural selection as they pass down genetics from generation and generation.

Another huge genetic study has determined that the human genome is evolving in a way
that natural selection is removing harmful genetic mutations after analysing DNA from
215,000 people [6]. Jonathan Pritchard, a geneticist at Stanford University believes that
there is an evolutionary trade-off between fertility and longevity, where mutations that
delay puberty and child bearing are more prevalent in those are live a longer life [7]. Every
individual carries two copies of each gene and the slightest variation will affect an
individual’s characteristic such as hair colour, eye colour, height, skin colour etc [8].

The environment plays an integral part in human adaptation and natural selection. Charles
Darwin pioneered the study of evolution amongst many animals and found that some
inherited traits gave individuals am advantage in surviving and reproducing. Modern biology
has determined that genetics underlies as the main influencer of human evolution as well as
learning [9]. The Bajau people of Indonesia have large spleens that release oxygen-rich red
blood cells that enable them to dive hundreds of feet deep and even hold their breath for
more than ten minutes [10]. The Buriat people of Siberia have developed broader faces to
adapt to the cold weather with light skin pigmentation that enables better Vitamin D
production [11]. These are all recent examples of human adaptations that have been
studied over a few generations and provides evidence that human evolution has not ended.

[1] http://earthsky.org/human-world/human-people-evoluion-natural-selection
[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] ibid
[6] https://www.nature.com/news/massive-genetic-study-shows-how-humans-are-
evolving-1.22565
[7] Ibid
[8] http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/humans-are-still-evolving-and-we-can-
watch-it-happen
[9] https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-human-beast/201806/are-humans-still-
evolving
[10] https://daily.jstor.org/humans-are-still-evolving/
[11] Ibid