But by saying 'happening at a fast rate in humans', you must be comparing it to something non-human? What do you think is evolving at a slow rate? By what are you comparing it to?
How are we supposed to answer your question without these details? :P
I initially was going to write "faster." It is actually hard to read the question without reading it as "faster," but thats not intentional. Just looked online, this article says 100, 000 years. So i don't know if its fast, but scientist are thinking of it as a theory that could happen. I said "theory" and "could happen" so don't hold me to it.
Ha I do actually remember reading about that when it came out (9 years ago! Time flies).
I don't put much faith in the theory, really. Anybody can make wild speculations about the evolutionary trajectory our species might take. LSE's Oliver Curry's guess isn't really any better than yours or mine.
Still, funny to wonder about :)
My guess is that we won't split. Nor will we get taller - I'd actually predict the opposite, that we'll shrink overall. Shorter people tend to live longer, and there isn't much of an advantage to being tall in a modern developed country reliant upon technology. We're more sedentary, so I expect we'd adapt to a slower lifestyle; slower metabolism, less muscle mass, fatter bums, slower heart rate / lower blood pressure. We might also lose more of our hair, and that curved spine might become totally straight, or increasingly curved.
The hair loss simply because I can see why we'd continue down the route we've been going down thus far - a gradual reduction in overall body hair.
The spine, sort of the same thing - it could continue to straighten, as it has been over many years over successive generations of being upright. But maybe that trend will reverse due to our change in lifestyles to a more frequent sitting position?
But again, these are just guesses.
And a slower heart rate doesn't necessarily mean a stronger heart.
Is evolution happening in humans?
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Ah sorry - maybe that was my misunderstanding.
But by saying 'happening at a fast rate in humans', you must be comparing it to something non-human? What do you think is evolving at a slow rate? By what are you comparing it to?
How are we supposed to answer your question without these details? :P
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I initially was going to write "faster." It is actually hard to read the question without reading it as "faster," but thats not intentional. Just looked online, this article says 100, 000 years. So i don't know if its fast, but scientist are thinking of it as a theory that could happen. I said "theory" and "could happen" so don't hold me to it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6057734.stm
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Ha I do actually remember reading about that when it came out (9 years ago! Time flies).
I don't put much faith in the theory, really. Anybody can make wild speculations about the evolutionary trajectory our species might take. LSE's Oliver Curry's guess isn't really any better than yours or mine.
Still, funny to wonder about :)
My guess is that we won't split. Nor will we get taller - I'd actually predict the opposite, that we'll shrink overall. Shorter people tend to live longer, and there isn't much of an advantage to being tall in a modern developed country reliant upon technology. We're more sedentary, so I expect we'd adapt to a slower lifestyle; slower metabolism, less muscle mass, fatter bums, slower heart rate / lower blood pressure. We might also lose more of our hair, and that curved spine might become totally straight, or increasingly curved.
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The hair loss and spine thing you gave no reasons for...
Btw a slower heart rate means a stronger heart.
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The hair loss simply because I can see why we'd continue down the route we've been going down thus far - a gradual reduction in overall body hair.
The spine, sort of the same thing - it could continue to straighten, as it has been over many years over successive generations of being upright. But maybe that trend will reverse due to our change in lifestyles to a more frequent sitting position?
But again, these are just guesses.
And a slower heart rate doesn't necessarily mean a stronger heart.