New take on evolution: effects of parasites:

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-parasite-human-neurological-evolution.html

This work can explain some evolutionary changes going on in species around the world including humans.

@sonhouse

The malaria parasite alone likely has exerted more adaptive change on the human genome than anything else. (At least among things we know about)

@wildgrass
So now the hunt widens. The more we learn the more we learn we HAVE to learn.

@sonhouse said
@wildgrass
So now the hunt widens. The more we learn the more we learn we HAVE to learn.

Sounds like the tag line to a sci-fi thriller. I can't wait to see the end.

https://www.asianscientist.com/2014/10/health/malaria-shaped-human-genome/

@wildgrass
Amazing the way we have been shaped by evolutionary stresses.

@sonhouse said
@wildgrass
Amazing the way we have been shaped by evolutionary stresses.

Well, that is the essence of the Theory of Natural Selection.

@DeepThought
Now we know it much deeper.

@deepthought said
Well, that is the essence of the Theory of Natural Selection.

I think the sickle cell trait and other genes selected by parasitic co-evolution are ideal examples of adaptive compromise.