NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Ask an Astrobiologist
"The JPL pictures of Mars and the artificial structures were astounding. Have these photos been analyzed more and what was the final analysis?"
  1. Question

    Is all the diversity among human beings evidence that we are in the process of evolving into perhaps a different species?

    No. New species are more likely to arise when relatively small populations are isolated, while today humans are less isolated than ever before, with substantial genetic mixing. And note that the diversity you mention represents a rather small level of genetic variation; all humans on Earth are more than 99 percent identical genetically. The biggest human evolutionary changes we have seen in the past 100,000 years are the result of technological and social evolution, not genetic evolution. David Morrison
    NAI Senior Scientist

    June 5, 2006

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