Evolution 'has stopped', or 'not stopped' ...

Not long ago, everyone was talking about how humans would evolve into the future .... now comes a claim by Professor Steve Jones that we are the peak of evolution. In a recent lecture (Tuesday 7 October 2008 at University College London) he posed the question of whether the human race is in decline?

His thesis is that, due to the way we now structure our societies, plenty of people are surviving who once did not, or are having children when once they would have stayed celibate, and medicine can now offer treatment for many with damaged genes, that can then be passed on.

Many people are worried about what this might do to future generations. Professor Steve Jones, argues that everything we know about the process of evolution tells us that - at least in the developed world, and at least for the time being - human evolution has slowed down or stopped.

This is the exact opposite of the theory of Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics who believes that humans are still evolving and in fact may be at the point of splitting again.

I guess, you pays your money and takes your choice.

New UK Creationists

I tentatively touched upon this subject sometime ago as part of another blog on human evolution, but as I think its slightly 'loony tunes' I didn't ever follow it up. 

God Creating The Heaven And The Earth
(Brueghel Jan II -  Wikimedia Commons)

It seemed a particularly American kinda obsession, or at least so I thought, until I read this BBC article, which shows that belief in "creationism" aka "intelligent design" is on the rise in the UK.