Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution

Anthropology, Culture, Science

From the New York Times:

A surprisingly recent instance of human evolution has been detected among the peoples of East Africa. It is the ability to digest milk in adulthood, conferred by genetic changes that occurred as recently as 3,000 years ago, a team of geneticists has found.

The finding is a striking example of a cultural practice — the raising of dairy cattle — feeding back into the human genome. It also seems to be one of the first instances of convergent human evolution to be documented at the genetic level. Convergent evolution refers to two or more populations acquiring the same trait independently.

nanowrimo day 30 – winner!

Books, NaNoWriMo, Writing

Whew!  Just under the wire, too.  The final word of the final chapter was written on the final day, and that word was “mage.”  It’s not as breathtaking as “scar,” perhaps, but I’ll take it.

Unfortunately for Patrick, the space monkeys didn’t make another appearance.  Perhaps they can be added in when the book is being edited.

Chris Won NaNoWriMo!