"How We Evolve"- Benjamin Phelan

This article reminded me of Darwinism, as soon as it opened up. Phelan writes about how mutations in genetics are possible, including the lactose intolerant gene that causes adults to not be able to have milk. Today, this gene is seen throughout many people. According to "How We Evolve", the gene appeared about 8,000 years ago but did not become common in the population until about 3,000 years ago. Another topic that Phelan discusses is HapMap, "a massive survey of the genetic differences between selected populations from around the world". This tool can show where natural selection has occurred, which is beneficial to study human evolution. According to the article, by looking at the genetic information of different populations, it is possible to weed out patterns of genetic inheritance, how diseases fit with genes and possibly how some mutations started. This shows how our world is heavily evolving and how we create our own evolution.

At the end of the article, a "self-inflicted extinction" is mentioned, meaning that we change our own world and evolve ourselves based on our actions, such as global warming, destroying our climate, and new technology. These factors could lead to human extinction because the climate could ultimately destroy us. It is getting late, and according to Phelen (which I agree with), we should try to fix these before it gets TOO late. We're not ready for human extinction yet!