Humans have been doing a lot of evolving lately.

Humans have been doing a lot of evolving lately.

Of course, given the breadth of the timeline being referenced, ‘lately means’ over the past 40 thousand years.

That’s about when humans began to develop some serious wanderlust, inhabiting new areas, adapting to different climates, and battling unfamiliar mortal dangers.

The results are distinct changes in skin color, stature, and physical features, all of which are telling of where our distant ancestors chose to put down stakes.

By exploring these differences on a genetic level, scientists have learned a great deal about the stimuli that set the evolutionary process in motion and give some traits staying power.

A paler skin tone, for example, is believed to facilitate the body’s absorption of vitamin D from sunlight, especially important for our northern ancestors.

Metabolisms and immune systems have adjusted to local food sources and the presence of site-specific pathogens.

Characteristics like hair color on the other hand have more to do with the existing attributes of the founders rather than adaptations to the environment.

Genetic mutations are, of course, still occurring.

However, if those changes will actually take hold and significantly influence evolution is something only time will tell.

The rest of humanity will find out in about 40 thousand years.