The raw vegan pseudoscience frauds claim try to claim that humans have evolved
on a raw vegan diet. However, in order to make this claim, they have to claim
that humans have not adapted to an omnivorous diet, despite following such
diets for 2.5+ million years. This puts the frauds in a tough position:
1) in one case, they claim that evolution of the digestive system is impossible
in the time period. That claim is contradicted by the record of brain evolution
over the same period, i.e., the fakes are arguing that "the brain can evolve,
but the stomach cannot".
2) for another case: if we take the pseudoscience claims of no adaptation to
mixed diets as true, simple mathematical-proof-style logic then PROVES that a
mixed diet is NATURAL. (Here the fakes outwit themselves via logically
inconsistent claims.)
In both cases the pseudoscience fakes are intellectually dishonest and fail to
understand adaptation and evolution. Indeed, they don't understand science or
logic either...
In sharp contrast to the fakes claiming evolutionary adaptation of any kind is
impossible, we have a series of recent articles from Science magazine,
outlining how human evolution is continuing today, right NOW. Evolution is
ignoring the fakes: good advice. :-)
Science, Vol 309, Issue 5732, 234-237 , 8 July 2005
EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS:
Are Humans Still Evolving?
Michael Balter
The goal of much of modern medicine and culture is to effectively stop
evolution in humans. Is that happening? Researchers are tracking changes in our
bodies and seeking signs of selection in the genome to find out.
Science, Vol 309, Issue 5741, 1662-1663 , 9 September 2005
EVOLUTION:
Are Human Brains Still Evolving? Brain Genes Show Signs of Selection
Michael Balter
Two reports on pages 1717 and 1720 of this issue conclude that two genes
thought to regulate human brain growth have continued to evolve under natural
selection until recently--and perhaps are doing so today. And on page 1693,
another team reports further evidence of the action of natural selection in
people: A gene expressed in microglia, immune cells of the nervous system,
produces a protein found only in humans.
Science, Vol 309, Issue 5741, 1717-1720 , 9 September 2005
Microcephalin, a Gene Regulating Brain Size, Continues to Evolve Adaptively in
Humans
Patrick D. Evans, Sandra L. Gilbert, Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov, Eric J. Vallender,
Jeffrey R. Anderson, Leila M. Vaez-Azizi, Sarah A. Tishkoff, Richard R. Hudson,
Bruce T. Lahn1
The gene Microcephalin (MCPH1) regulates brain size and has evolved under
strong positive selection in the human evolutionary lineage. We show that one
genetic variant of Microcephalin in modern humans, which arose 37,000 years
ago, increased in frequency too rapidly to be compatible with neutral drift.
This indicates that it has spread under strong positive selection, although the
exact nature of the selection is unknown. The finding that an important brain
gene has continued to evolve adaptively in anatomically modern humans suggests
the ongoing evolutionary plasticity of the human brain. It also makes
Microcephalin an attractive candidate locus for studying the genetics of human
variation in brain-related phenotypes.
Science, Vol 309, Issue 5741, 1720-1722 , 9 September 2005
Ongoing Adaptive Evolution of ASPM, a Brain Size Determinant in Homo sapiens
Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov, Sandra L. Gilbert, Patrick D. Evans, Eric J. Vallender,
Jeffrey R. Anderson, Richard R. Hudson, Sarah A. Tishkoff, Bruce T. Lahn1
The gene ASPM (abnormal spindle-like microcephaly associated) is a specific
regulator of brain size, and its evolution in the lineage leading to Homo
sapiens was driven by strong positive selection. Here, we show that one genetic
variant of ASPM in humans arose merely about 5800 years ago and has since swept
to high frequency under strong positive selection. These findings, especially
the remarkably young age of the positively selected variant, suggest that the
human brain is still undergoing rapid adaptive evolution.
Tom Billings
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