Thursday, February 10, 2011

Human Devolution



The word may seem to be a little confusing, you might have heard about the words like evolution or revolution but what is this Devolution...??
"devolution", or backward evolution is the notion the species generally evolve into more "primitive" forms by losing adaptations no longer necessary in a new environment. According to this view, changes from one biome to another may usher in pressures to weed out an obsolete function which is no longer useful for survival after the transition.
So what do we mean by human devolution it must be something related to vestigial organs. No, this time we are talking about something big here. we are talking about losing the abilities that made us survive in this world.
In biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though the changes produced in any one generation are small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the organisms and this process is happening all the time. So what are the changes we are having, we don't feel like there is any change. just look at the lives from 70-80 years from now and you will see the difference, in life style, in working habits and many more. industrial revolution helped man a lot by making the life easier for man but it also made him lazy. The discoveries of new medicine helped in curing diseases but it also made our immune system weak. These are very few examples of Human Devolution, may not be biologically now but the forth coming generations may have to face more serious consequences.The diseases allowed only the individual with the best genes to survive so that the body could become more and more resistant to the microbes.

New infectious diseases are now emerging at an exceptional rate, scientists have told a leading conference in St Louis, US.
Humans are accumulating new pathogens at a rate of one per year. "This accumulation of new pathogens has been going on for millennia - this is how we acquired TB, malaria, smallpox," said Professor Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University Of Edinburgh, UK.
"But at the moment, this accumulation does seem to be happening very fast.
"So it seems there is something special about modern times - these are good times for pathogens to be invading the human population." Professor Woolhouse has catalogued more than 1,400 different agents of disease in humans; and every year, scientists are discovering one or two new ones. Changes in land use through, for example, deforestation can bring humans into contact with new pathogens; and, likewise, agricultural changes, such as the use of exotic livestock. Other important drivers include global travel, global trade and hospitalisation.
Another reason may be the weakened natural immune system of humans. Most of us are addicted to the medicine even for a normal cold we go to a doctor and take a pack of tablets, also people are too afraid to bear even small amount of pain and opt for diclofenac medicines. Pathogens are evolving ways to combat our control methods but are we??

No certainly not we are becoming more and more dependent on the external artificial medicinal therapy instead of strengthening our own natural immune system , let's leave things related to medicines here and discuss about human life style. The life is much more easier now with very less work to do, but our muscles are made to do work if they won't they will lose there functions like vestigial organs did. these may not give any significant effect in the genes for now but after a few generations it may make an impression of weak bones and muscles in the genetic code. At that time we might be very strong with all the technology, but we would be very weak and helpless with out these things.
living in Air Conditioners and using cars and bikes very extensively may make our life easy but the future generations may be too weak to face the sun's heat or walk a few miles on a hot sunny afternoon. The chances of our survival depends on how much we can be strong by ourselves not with the use of external artificial means.

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