If we look at multiple genes, the ethnic variations--such as the ones we found--are likely to be counterbalanced by other differences. It just happens that we looked at two genes for which the variants favored by selection have a higher frequency in some populations, such as Europeans. It might be that for the next two brain size genes we find, the variants favored by selection will have a higher frequency in Asians or Africans.
More Quotes from Bruce Lahn:
In another 10,000 or 20,000 years, I think the human brain may acquire a form that is quite different than the human brain today. Not necessarily in its shape, which may remain relatively the same. But the function may be different. It may be, on average, a little smarter. Or it may acquire certain skills that in its current form it isn't well-equipped to handle -- advanced cognitive abilities such as abstract reasoning. We don't really know for sure how -- but we are still evolving.Bruce Lahn
People like to think of modern human biology, and especially mental biology, as being the result of selections that took place 100,000 years ago. But our research shows that humans are still under selection, not just for things like disease resistance but
Bruce Lahn
They may have arisen in Europe or the Middle East and spread more readily east and west due to human migrations, as opposed to south to Africa because of geographic barriers. Or, they could have arisen in Africa, and increased in frequency once early humans migrated out of Africa.
Bruce Lahn
My concern is that this is going to become justification for prejudices against certain groups.
Bruce Lahn
I think a lot of people might consider humans to be at the pinnacle of evolutionary lineage -- that we have achieved an advanced state as a species, and we have basically become the end-game. But what we found indicates that the species -- particularly when it comes to the brain, which is perhaps our most defining feature -- is still evolving.
Bruce Lahn
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