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How Civilization Alters DNA: New Study
In this data-rich episode, join the hosts as they delve into the study 'Pervasive Findings of Directional Selection: Realize the Promise of Ancient DNA to Elucidate Human Adaptation.' This groundbreaking research analyzes 433 ancient and 6,510 modern genomes to trace the evolution of genetic traits such as skin and hair color, intelligence, body fat, and diseases like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The conversation also explores the impact of cultural and religious adaptations over millennia. The episode concludes with a discussion on future genetic interventions and the potential ethical implications on societal norms.
Malcolm Collins: [00:00:00] Hello, Simone.
This is going to be a spicy episode with a lot of data. We are going to be talking about a study and a write up on the study. The study was called Pervasive Findings of Directional Selection, Realize the Promise of Ancient DNA. to elucidate human adaptation. Specifically, they took 433 corpses from a period that went from 14, 000 years ago to, to modern times, and they used 6, 510 contemporary people to develop baselines, and they determined that How much various things that we know have genetic correlates today, how those genetic correlates changed throughout history.
We're going to be talking about things like intelligence, earning potential schizophrenia, potential ratio. How white people were [00:01:00] how because this was all done in the European population. In an article that was bemoaning this called David Reich vindicates Corinne and Harpin's 10, 000 year explosion.
They were bemoaning that they're like, it's so funny that like, you cannot do this sort of work, even though we have tons and tons and tons of like Native American skeletons and stuff like that, or skeletons from different regions. They're all like, now, like, Re burying them and stuff like destroying these historic artifacts because it's like, oh, this is all like Western supremacy.
What it means is like, nobody cares when you mess with like white people's skeletons. And so, they, with all these other skeletons they're just not going to have good data and we're destroying the data to know about ethnic minorities, but we will know what happened with white people. And one of the interesting things that I guess I can go into first with some of the first graphs I shared with you, Simone, if you go to WhatsApp.
Yeah white people being white is actually a fairly modern thing. Okay, historically, we probably did not look that white. [00:02:00] Specifically, if you go 4000 years ago, or earlier, a lot of the genes, and this is just like across genes here, the so you can look at Look at that. Yeah, associate with whiteness or a darker skin color.
We're just significantly more common and actually a big part of this happened in the last 2000 years. It was like, like big spikes there. And so, the idea of For example, Jesus being black or dark skinned he was almost certainly more dark skinned than the most dark skinned Europeans today.
All those
Simone Collins: Mormon Jesus paintings. Don't really
Malcolm Collins: it was definitely not fair skin. Yes Very interesting though that that white skin is a fairly modern evolutionary phenomenon But one that has been regularly selected for since about six thousand years ago, huh? [00:03:00] Interesting You also see a similar phenomenon here with hair.
Simone Collins: Yeah, look at that.
Malcolm Collins: So, straight hair slash baldness increase. So, you've seen the hair within the European population becoming much, much straighter over time. You would have had much hair, or, I don't, is that an offensive word, hair?
Simone Collins: I do not know. Maybe. We can say more textured hair.
Malcolm Collins: More textured hair in a historic phenomenon. And they, they y
Published on 11 months, 3 weeks ago