Scientists found that the genome of Europeans was updated 12% faster than that of Asians. The reason is that the generations among the Europeans changed more often than among the inhabitants of Asia.
Before getting acquainted with the results of the study, let's see why a generational change is needed at all. And along with it - and the phenomenon of death.
Why do we need death in nature
Death is needed from the perspective of the survival of the species.
In nature, generational change is important. This is one of the reasons why different species of animals have different lifespans. Generations should change, organisms with one genome should be replaced by others, with an updated version of DNA. This is how the species adapt to the surrounding reality.
If living conditions are dangerous and changeable, then generations need to be replaced faster. This, for example, helped mammals evolve 65 million years ago, when a meteorite fell to Earth and the dinosaurs became extinct. Then mammals - small rodents - lived for only six months or a year. And they quickly adapted to the new conditions.
If environmental conditions do not change much, then the species has no need to actively evolve. Therefore, the Antarctic sponge can afford to live for 10+ thousand years.
Europeans changed generations more often
An international team of scientists studied the DNA of Europeans, Asians and Native Americans.
Scientists have found that generations among Europeans changed 12% more often. Scientists have published an article about the results of the study in the journalNature Communications . Moreover, the further east you go, the higher the gap.
We studied the generational change based on the variability of the genome of Neanderthals. Modern humans have a small fraction of Neanderthal DNA. For Europeans it is 1-2%, for Asians it is 3-4%. The reason for this discrepancy turned out to be in the turnover of generations. In Europeans, the process went faster and because of this, the genome of Neanderthals decreased more.
The generation gap is the average age of parents when they have children. And among Europeans for 40 thousand years, children, on average, were born a little earlier than in Asia and America.
Asia is characterized by marriages where men are older than women. In Europe, peers were more likely to get married, scientists say.
From this, of course, one could draw the chauvinistic conclusion that the Europeans evolved faster. This means that they have adapted to the environment more efficiently.
But the conclusion is wrong. Much depends on the conditions. The climate and conditions of the Europeans were in many ways harsher. Therefore, adaptation to the environment has led to similar cultural and genetic differences.
The elephant renews generations less often than a hamster. Because he, in fact, has no natural enemies. And there is no motive to change generations too often.
In general, a person has a unique situation. In fact, for humans, as for a species, physical evolution has long lost all meaning. Man does not adapt to nature, but adapts nature to himself. The main thing is not to accidentally go too far with this, and so that nature always remains in balance.
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