Discover Magazine tells us that “Fast population growth has littered our genomes with five times as many rare gene variants as would be expected”:
All of these mutations — roughly 100 billion for each generation in the entire population — potentially accelerate the pace of evolution by giving it more raw materials with which to work. A small percentage may be beneficial; abilities such as digesting milk in adulthood and living at high altitude are recent acquisitions of the human genome. Given how many mutations are now circulating among living humans, we may be evolving new capabilities already.
Like the ability to spell P-O-P-P-Y-C-O-C-K?
But, come to think of it, my relatives are evolving already. They all seem older, greyer, … 😉