An interesting post at physorg.com on recent work by University of Utah scientists Henry Harpending and Gregory M. Cochran, who have previously argued that the high IQs of Ashkenazi Jews can be attributed to genetic selection. Their more recent work suggests that 7 percent of human genes are undergoing rapid, recent evolution.

The quotes Cochran as saying: “History looks more and more like a science fiction novel in which mutants repeatedly arose and displaced normal humans - sometimes quietly, by surviving starvation and disease better, sometimes as a conquering horde. And we are those mutants.”

Harpending is now studying whether the mutation that made Indo-European speakers lactose tolerant “gave them more energy, allowing them to conquer a large area. ”

got milk?

snikt ™