Most of the harmful mutations in people arose in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years

Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 10:03 in Paleontology & Archaeology

A study of the age of more than 1 million single-letter variations in the human DNA code reveals that most of these mutations are of recent origin, evolutionarily speaking. They arose as a result of explosive population growth, which provides more chances for new mutations to appear in offspring. Many of these mutations are harmful, some have no effect, and others are beneficial now or may provide an adaptive advantage for future generations.

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