INTERSTING F.A.C.T.S

"For Western world man, and of-course woman, the process of evolution has stopped as having all the comforts of life, the western man does not needs to struggle and hence the process of natural selection, which is the basis of evolution, has stopped ", says Steve Jones, head of the department of genetics, evolution and environment at the University College London,a British Genetic expert.

Thus, going by this argument, if we are going to see some development of humans 500,000 yrs from now, the onus of those evolutions is totally on the men of east. "We now know so much about the process of evolution that we can make some predictions about what might happen in future," Jones said in a lecture here on Monday.

Before modernity, life was so tough that many children died at very young age due to various diseases and only the ones with better genes did survive, survival of fittest as they say. This process of natural selection led to survival of those with genetic mutations and hence contributing to the process of evolution.Referring to mutation, Jones expounds the view that it too is slowing down. It is because there are fewer older fathers in the West. Older men's sperm deteriorates and contains more genetic mistakes which in turn can lead to mutations in their children.Cell divisions in males increase with age. "Every time there is a cell division, there is a chance of a mistake, a mutation, an error," he is quoted as saying. A third factor - randomness - is also an important ingredient in evolution. Small populations that are isolated can change at random as genes are accidentally lost, he said. But as the world's population becomes increasingly connected, the opportunity for random change is dwindling.

Jones is not the only scientist to believe mankind will struggle to evolve from its present state. In his book "Future Evolution", Peter Ward, a paleontologist at the University of Washington, claims that only by interbreeding and allowing bioengineering can a new species emerge.

So, if the human race survives for another 500,000 yrs, they may be just like us but of-course far ahead of us in terms of technology.