What will humans look like in 50,000 years? Scientists' predictions

Many researchers believe that the evolution of modern humans has stopped. But this phenomenon may be less about survival and more about reproductive success in the current environment.

Changes in gene frequency due to factors such as cultural preferences, geographic migration, and even random events continue to shape the human genome. Experts have given their predictions on how evolution may affect the human species in 50,000 years, Newsweek writes.

"Evolution is partly deterministic - there are rules for the development of systems - and partly random - mutations and environmental changes are mostly unpredictable. In some rare cases, we can observe evolution in action, but for tens or hundreds of years, this is mostly an assumption," said Thomas Meilund, associate professor of bioinformatics at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Jason Hodgson, an anthropologist and evolutionary geneticist at Anglia Ruskin University in England, said 50,000 years is an "extremely long period" in human evolution, representing more than 1,667 human generations, given a 30-year generation time.

"Over the last 50,000 years, most of the variations seen among human populations have evolved. This includes skin color, physique, hair color and texture, etc. In fact, most of the variations we are familiar with have evolved even within the last 10,000 years," the anthropologist said.

Hodgson predicts that in the near future, global populations will become more homogeneous and less structured when it comes to genetics and phenotype - the observable traits of an individual.

"Currently, phenotypes that we associate with geographic regions, such as dark skin in Africans, light skin in Scandinavians, short stature in African dwarf hunter-gatherers, tall stature in the Dutch, etc., are maintained through assortative mating. That is, they have more chances to choose partners who are similar to themselves," the geneticist emphasized.

According to the scientist, this is partly due to the human history of migration and culture, which means that people tend to live and meet people who are more similar to themselves.

"However, mating between distantly related groups is increasing, and this will lead to less structure and a more homogeneous global population. For example, if you put a bunch of poodles, rottweilers, chihuahuas, and St. Bernards on an island and they breed randomly, then in a few generations they will all become medium-sized brown dogs," Jason Hodgson explained.

According to Thomas Maylund, when different populations mix, their traits change, which are determined by several gene variants. But many traits are the result of a combination of different genes.

Nick Longrich, a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Bath in the UK, suggested that humans could become taller and more attractive through sexual selection.

According to the scientists, as time passes and technology advances, it is possible that humans will begin to purposefully guide their own evolution with gene editing tools such as CRISPR using artificial intelligence.

"I suspect that by this time, things like appearance will mostly depend on our choices. Technologies like CRISPR, or technologies that have not yet been invented, will allow us to choose many things about our appearance. I can even imagine that our appearance could change in a generation in the way that fashion changes now," said Jason Hodgson.

"I expect that over the next century we will improve this technology. We already have the tools to edit genes, and the main obstacle is the lack of understanding of the consequences of gene editing. I expect that ethical considerations will hold us back for some time, it will not be forever," Thomas Maylund emphasized.

OBOZ.UA previously wrote that scientists have discovered a new species of people with huge heads that roamed China and died out 200,000 years ago.

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