I read an interesting article today. It argues that the world is entering a new stage of super fast evolution, as shown by a survey of mutations in human genomes. Humans have changed considerable in the last 10,000 years, leaning towards smaller bodies and brains, which is possibly evidence of a less significant need of old-school survival characteristics. Instead, we've evolved more to eat better food (lactose) and fight off new diseases (HIV).
Interesting. I would have thought the opposite true, that we were evolving more slowly than in the past. I was worried that we were becoming bananas, slowly losing the genetic diversity required to survive large-scale disease outbreaks. I guess we're safe for now. Let's just keep a handle on the antibiotic-resistant bugs we're creating.
I've also spoken to some interesting people lately. This weekend I was listening to stories from a couple of guys in my fire department who had fought in Vietnam. Not only did they have some cool stories of combat and training, they also had some tales about my hometown when they were in high school (class of '66). Apparently there were some gang issues in the school at that time. Who'd have guessed?
I've already made my copies for class tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm ahead of the game. I really can't resist these opportunities to plan ahead. I guess that's my weakness. I can live with that.
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