Homo sapiens have been around for 250,000 years - surely long enough to have become fully evolved?
It was thought that the dramatic extension of life spans during the 20th century eliminated natural selection, but new evidence shows that to be false.
Will selection always be natural, or could postmodern also mean posthuman?
Bio
Christopher Dye
Professor Christopher Dye is based at the World Health Organization, where he evaluates epidemiological and economic trends for tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases, measures the impact of control programs, and presents the findings to governments, scientists, and the media.
Professor Dye holds a BA from the University of York and a DPhil from the University of Oxford and has taught at Cambridge University, Imperial College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was elected a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2008.
His work in epidemiology is described in more than 200 scientific papers, and he is currently a member of the editorial board of science.
Evolution of modern human beings from extinct nonhuman and humanlike forms. Genetic evidence points to an evolutionary divergence between the lineages of humans and the great apes on the African continent 85 million years ago (mya). The earliest fossils considered to be remains of hominins (members of the human lineage) date to at least 4 mya in Africa; they include the genus Australopithecus and other forms. The next major evolutionary stage, Homo habilis, inhabited sub-Saharan Africa about 21.5 mya. Homo habilis appears to have been supplanted by a taller and more humanlike species, Homo erectus, which lived from c. 1,700,000 to 200,000 years ago, gradually migrating into Asia and parts of Europe. Between c. 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, Homo heidelbergensis, sometimes called archaic Homo sapiens, lived in Africa, Europe, and perhaps parts of Asia. Having features resembling those of both H. erectus and modern humans, H. heidelbergensis may have been an ancestor of modern humans and also of the Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis), who inhabited Europe and western Asia from c. 200,000 to 28,000 years ago. Fully modern humans (H. sapiens) seem to have emerged in Africa only c. 150,000 years ago, perhaps having descended directly from H. erectus or from an intermediate species such as H. heidelbergensis.
This Geoffrey Miller chap why the hell does he think symmetry is so attractive in people? What's the big deal about symmetry? I am very suspicious about people who think like that...
That picture of the "Dad at 13" literally blew my mind enough to research that further. I found a video on youtube, SO disturbing...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q_bib2j8_w