Nowadays, some babies are born without wisdom teeth and a lot of people have a rare additional artery in their forearms.
According to a new study, it’s because we’re undergoing a microevolution.
Australian scientists found a couple of changes in humans which are happening over a short period of time.
Doctor Teghan Lucas from the Flinders University in Adelaide explains that our faces are also becoming shorter because of our diet changes.
Hence, we have smaller jaws and smaller jaws means less place for teeth.
More & more Babies Being Born without Wisdom Teeth
Lucas noted that this microevolution has been happening in time as we’ve learned to use fire and process food more. So, nowadays, some babies are born without wisdom teeth.
The researchers also discovered a rising prevalence of people with additional bones in their arms and legs, but shorter faces too and abnormal connections in two or more feet bones.
The investigation published in the journal Anatomy, which Dr. Lucas led together with other professors from the University of Adelaide, Professor Maciej Henneberg and Jaliya Kumaratilake, discovered a major increase in median artery prevalence since the late 19th century.
This is an artery which forms when the baby is still in the womb and it’s the main vessel which provides the forearm and hand with blood; however, it disappears in the gestation and the ulnar and radial arteries replace it.
From the 18th century, anatomists have been researching the prevalence of this artery in adults and found it was actually on the rise.
Median Artery Becoming more Common
The higher presence was 10 percent in people who were born in the mid 1880s compared to the 30 percent in the people born in the late 20th century. This is a major increase in a short time span in evolution, explain the scientists.
They claim that the increase may be a result of gene mutations or health issues in the mothers during the pregnancy, or both.
Dr. Lucas added that if the trend continues, most people will have this artery by 2100. She also explained that their study concluded that humans are evolving faster now than at any point in the last 250 years!
Sources: