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Recent and ongoing human evolution

Anatomically modern human populations continue to evolve, as they are affected by both natural selection and genetic drift. Although selection pressure on some traits, such as resistance to smallpox, has decreased in the modern age, humans are still undergoing natural selection for many other traits. Some of these are due to specific environmental pressures, while others are related to lifestyle changes since the development of agriculture (10,000 years ago), urbanization (5,000), and industrialization (250 years ago). It has been argued that human evolution has accelerated since the development of agriculture 10,000 years ago and civilization some 5,000 years ago, resulting, it is claimed, in substantial genetic differences between different current human populations, and more recent research indicates that for some traits, the developments and innovations of human culture have driven a new form of selection that coexists with, and in some cases has largely replaced, natural selection.

Particularly conspicuous is variation in superficial characteristics, such as Afro-textured hair, or the recent evolution of light skin and blond hair in some populations, which are attributed to differences in climate. Particularly strong selective pressures have resulted in high-altitude adaptation in humans, with different ones in different isolated populations. Studies of the genetic basis show that some developed very recently, with Tibetans evolving over 3,000 years to have high proportions of an allele of EPAS1 that is adaptive to high altitudes.

Other evolution is related to endemic diseases: the presence of malaria selects for sickle cell trait (the heterozygous form of sickle cell gene), while in the absence of malaria, the health effects of sickle-cell anemia select against this trait. For another example, the population at risk of the severe debilitating disease kuru has significant over-representation of an immune variant of the prion protein gene G127V versus non-immune alleles. The frequency of this genetic variant is due to the survival of immune persons. Some reported trends remain unexplained and the subject of ongoing research in the novel field of evolutionary medicine: polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) reduces fertility and thus is expected to be subject to extremely strong negative selection, but its relative commonality in human populations suggests a counteracting selection pressure. The identity of that pressure remains the subject of some debate.

Recent human evolution related to agriculture includes genetic resistance to infectious disease that has appeared in human populations by crossing the species barrier from domesticated animals, as well as changes in metabolism due to changes in diet, such as lactase persistence.

Culturally-driven evolution can defy the expectations of natural selection: while human populations experience some pressure that drives a selection for producing children at younger ages, the advent of effective contraception, higher education, and changing social norms have driven the observed selection in the opposite direction. However, culturally-driven selection need not necessarily work counter or in opposition to natural selection: some proposals to explain the high rate of recent human brain expansion indicate a kind of feedback whereupon the brain's increased social learning efficiency encourages cultural developments that in turn encourage more efficiency, which drive more complex cultural developments that demand still-greater efficiency, and so forth. Culturally-driven evolution has an advantage in that in addition to the genetic effects, it can be observed also in the archaeological record: the development of stone tools across the Palaeolithic period connects to culturally-driven cognitive development in the form of skill acquisition supported by the culture and the development of increasingly complex technologies and the cognitive ability to elaborate them.

In contemporary times, since industrialization, some trends have been observed: for instance, menopause is evolving to occur later. Other reported trends appear to include lengthening of the human reproductive period and reduction in cholesterol levels, blood glucose and blood pressure in some populations.