Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Are our genes still being shaped by natural selection?

I definitely think so. Why we would stay the same when our world is constantly changing? We have different lifestyles, diets and environments that have shaped so much of our development. Not only are our local environments shifting, but the impact of globalization means factors that have often affected natural selection in the past such as diet and disease are no longer as confined to specific regions. I would imagine the fact that there is such a massive increase in multiracial people would throw some genetic changes in the mix as well as the various developments in medicine and procedures for childbirth such as IVF, c-sections and use of pitocin, modifying the conditions of birth that are supposed to happen naturally. It seems to be that there are such a vast array of changing elements today that could be constantly shaping our genetic evolution.

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