Re: Interesting article on evolution from one generation to the next
Thanks for posting the link. The summary of the research says that evolution can happen more quickly than sometimes assumed because mutations are more common than we previously thought. Mutations still occur to individuals within a species, though--rather than to entire groups--and then if these individuals survive and reproduce, the trait becomes more widespread in the whole breeding population. Does this start with just a single individual, though, or is it possible that with so many mutations happening, multiple individuals happen to have the trait merely by chance, and maybe not even at the same time? That would also speed up the changes in the species.
The article says that our genome is no exception, of course, to the rule of frequent mutations. The hard nut to crack is whether humans are still going to evolve under the mechanism of differential reproduction, where some mutations give individuals a leg up in reproduction. Our invention of culture has taken the pressure of the environment--which drives evolution in other animals--so much out of the equation.
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