Study seeks to prove theory humans still evolving

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/environment/2011/October/environment_October10.xml§ion=environment

(AFP)

8 October 2011

OTTAWA — Rare evidence of the long-held belief that humans are still evolving has been unearthed in the parish records of a French-Canadian island on the Saint Lawrence seaway, researchers say.

Ile aux Coudres is located 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Quebec City. Between 1720 and 1773, 30 families settled there and the population reached 1,585 people by the 1950s.

Poring over church registers containing detailed records of dates of births, marriages and deaths, researchers found the age of women when they had their first child fell from about 26 to 22 years over 140 years from 1799 to just before 1940.

After discounting environmental and social factors, they concluded this substantial change from one generation to the next “largely occurred at the genetic level.”

[hlthe2b]

1. Exclude conservatives, teabaggers, RW fundamentalist Xians...

and it will be obvious. ;)

[Kennah]

9. They are an example that evolution sometimes goes in reverse

[Warren Stupidity]

2. um uh - evolution is a continuous process. nt.

[pocoloco]

3. Sure we are, but the bad news is........

we peaked and are now evolving backwards.

[LeftyMom]

4. Populations evolve. Always.

I know that bad science writing is as reliable as death and taxes, but if you don't understand as basic an idea as that you really shouldn't get to write science articles.

[catabryna]

5. Then again... it might have been a result of the Church of Cathol...

I'm not convinced. This was during a time when people had more children for a variety of reasons... culture is a big reason.

By the same reasoning... we are having fewer children (except certain Christian faiths)...

Religion is the biggest factor.

[rug]

6. Why not? This species, like all others, will evolve and eventually become extinct.

[devils chaplain]

7. Let's hope so. NT

[Ian David]

8. This just proves Canadians are evolving. n/t