- Scientists studying people in Finland find evidence that natural selection is still taking place
- Researchers say being rich or poor does not affect success at mating or fertility rates
By Lawrence Conway
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Relevant: Charles Darwin the naturalist who set out the theory of evolution
Darwinian 'survival-of-the-fittest' laws continue to shape human evolution in the modern age, research has found.
Humans are subject to the forces of natural selection just like any other species, say scientists.
A popular misconception is that humans stopped evolving when they took up farming and embraced monogamy.
But evidence from detailed church records of almost 6,000 Finns born between 1760 and 1849 suggests this is not so.
Researchers looked at economic status, births, deaths and marriages to examine four key natural selection factors.
They were survival to adulthood, mate access, mating success and fertility.
They found that the Finns' natural selection opportunities were on a par with those seen in the wild.
Finland has some of the best available data for such research thanks to detailed church records of births, deaths, marriages and wealth status which were kept for tax purposes.
Movement in the country was also very limited until the 20th century.
Differences in early survival and fertility were responsible for most of the variation in fitness, even among wealthy individuals.
Dr Virpi Lummaa, from the University of Sheffield's department of animal and plant sciences, said: 'We have shown advances have not challenged the fact that our species is still evolving, just like all the other species "in the wild".
Current: Charles Darwin made many of his great discoveries studying animals of the Galapagos Islands
'It is a common misunderstanding that evolution took place a long time ago, and that to understand ourselves we must look back to the hunter-gatherer days of humans.'
Dr Lummaa said evidence had already proved important selection had been taking place in very recent populations.
She said: 'Humans continue to be affected by both natural and sexual selection.
'Although the specific pressures, the factors making some individuals able to survive better, or have better success at finding partners and produce more kids, have changed across time and differ in different populations.'
The new findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Co-author Dr Alexandre Courtiol, from the Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, Germany, said: 'Characteristics increasing the mating success of men are likely to evolve faster than those increasing the mating success of women.
'This is because mating with more partners was shown to increase reproductive success more in men than in women.
'Surprisingly, however, selection affected wealthy and poor people in the society to the same extent.'
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It's great shame this great man. like so many inovators before him, was persecuted and ridiculed by the ingnorance of religion. Narrow minded idiots who would prefer to believe some ancient book rather than carefully researched evidence. At least the Vatican aoplogised eventually.
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How is this even a story? How could it NOT be the case? @Quinn - Evolution doesn't mean you get smarter or stronger, simply more suited to your environment.
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Maybe in Finland, but they should do a study out in NYC. It's like the movie Idiocracy!
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