Question

dear sir,do u think human beings r the last evolution on planet earth,and why did the evolution stopped after we became humans?

Evolution has not stopped; it it happening all around us. The most obvious examples are in the evolution of drug resistant bacteria; this can happen in just a decade or two. We see the effects of evolution most clearly, of course, in populations (like bacteria) that reproduce quickly, so that thousands of generations pass in just a few years. Among large animals, an example is the emergence of the polar bear. As noted in Wikipedia, “the Ursinae subfamily of bears originated approximately 4.2 million years ago. According to both fossil and DNA evidence, the polar bear diverged from the brown bear roughly 200,000 years ago.” This means that polar bears are a younger species than humans. As far as humans are concerned, it is difficult to imagine that we will not someday become extinct, but I can’t predict when or how this might happen.

David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
August 4, 2009