Research Indicates Human Evolution Accelerating

An anonymous reader writes "A new paper (pdf) just released shows that not only have humans not stopped evolving, the rate of evolution has massively increased during the past 40,000 years thanks to bigger population sizes and varied environments. Lead author John Hawks has posted the first of several blog entries about the research. 'In the study, researchers analzyed genomes from 270 people belonging to four disparate ethnic groups: Han Chinese, Africa's Yoruba tribe, Japanese and Utah Mormons. By comparing areas of difference and similarity, they determined that about seven percent of the genome has undergone significant change since the end of the last Ice Age. If human beings had always evolved at such a rapid clip, said the researchers, genetic differences between people and chimpanzees would be 160 times greater than they are. '"