Thursday, October 22, 2009

Women evolving to be shorter and heavier, says research

Where would we be without research?
I just wanted to see what's depressing Ambrose Evans-Pritchard these days (see post above) and here's this.
From the Telegraph:
New research at Yale University has provided the strongest evidence yet that humans are evolving – and suggests that women of the future will be shorter, heavier, and healthier, and will have children for longer.

...While survival to reproductive age is no longer such a hurdle for humans, other evolutionary pressures – including sexual selection and reproductive fitness – are still working away in full force.

If the trends the research detected are representative and continue for another 10 generations, Prof Stearns says that the average woman in 2409AD will be 2cm (0.8in) shorter and 1kg (2lb 3oz) heavier, will bear her first child five months earlier, and enter the menopause 10 months later....MORE