Rapid acceleration in human evolution described

Summary

December 10, 2007: The speed of human evolution has increased, rather than decreased in the most recent millenniums. Most of the recent changes in human genes were adaptions to an agricultural lifestyle, as well as increased resistance to various diseases. Scientists have been able to determine this by mapping the genetic differences between people in various regions.

Source

Bibliography

1. Original article

Game and Story Use

• In science fiction campaigns, game masters can use this argument to explain drastic genetic and physiological differences between human populations on different colony planets with different environments.
  • This is even more plausible if interstellar civilization collapsed for a time, forcing the different colony worlds to survive and adapt on their own.
• The increasing pace of human evolution could be used to justify "evolutionary leaps" - perhaps in the form of psionics or superpowers.