Are humans devolving? Research suggests humans losing intellectual, emotional abilities -
naturalnews.com
Have you ever wondered - and maybe even said out loud - why so many people seem downright dumb? According to a hypothesis just published in the Cell Press journal Trends in Genetics, maybe humans are becoming less intelligent. The paper's author, Dr. Gerald Crabtree, of Stanford University, suggests we are losing our intellectual and emotional capabilities because the intricate web of genes giving Homo sapiens our supposedly superior-to-other-animals' brain power is susceptible to dumbing down mutations.
Dr. Crabtree points out that human intelligence and behavior require the optimal functioning of a large number of genes. And these genes need enormous evolutionary pressures to be maintained [...]
He explained that in this ancient environment, intelligence was critical for survival so genes required for intellectual development were maintained and favored, resulting in a growth of human intelligence.
The supposed problem is that as agriculture developed and then urbanization, there was
less natural selection of the most intelligent. Mutations weren't weeded out as often and that led to more intellectual disabilities. In addition, Dr. Crabtree points out, recent
neuroscience findings suggest genes involved in brain function are especially susceptible to mutations.
[...] Dr. Crabtree argues that the combination of less selective pressure combined with the large number of somewhat easily mutated genes is eroding our intellectual and emotional capabilities.
This brings up the question of whether humans are actually "devolving" instead of continuing to evolve.
[...]
LINK:
www.naturalnews.com/037942_humans_devolving_brain_function.html
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Are Humans Becoming Less Intelligent? - Nov 12, 2012 - news.yahoo.com
news.yahoo.com/humans-becoming-less-intelligent-173400651.html 
