Un-Natural Selection: Human Evolution's Next Steps

But natural selection takes time — sometimes millions or even hundreds of millions of years. Humans have only been around for tens of thousands of years, but we are changing the world so much that genetic evolution simply can't keep up.

Millions of years ago, the natural environment was shaping us into the species we are now. Today, we create our own environments, and that has its consequences.

John Hawks, an anthropologist and geneticist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, says we've created a lifestyle that is at odds with the one natural selection provided us with. Consider, for example, what ate when we were hunter gatherers, long before we started farming.

"We adapted to a diet that was much more balanced in terms of lean meat, in terms of high fiber vegetables.  And by de-accentuating those aspects of our former diet, we've created a new environment that humans aren't real suited to," Hawks says.

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Puns In Country Music Songs Done Right

Puns have long been a part of country music songs -- think of song titles such as George Jones' "She Took My Keys Away, and Now She Won't Drive Me to Drink" or Lee Ann Womack's "Am I the Only Thing That You Done Wrong?" Linguist Geoff Nunberg says that the genre's willingness to play with lyrics and song titles uncovers new layers of meaning.

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The New Republic: Health Care Won't Decide Election

It is widely predicted that Democrats will lose their advantage in the midterm elections, and some conservatives have argued that it is because health care was prioritized over the economy. Jonathan Chait of The New Republic refutes this point, saying that it's not clear there is anything that would have saved Democrats in the upcoming elections.

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