Anthropologists show how migrant communities physically grow taller when they leave hardship behind

[Judi Lynn]

Date:
March 8, 2018
Source:
Loughborough University
Summary:
A new study has shown that migrant populations moving to more affluent countries grow physically taller over relatively short periods of time.

. . .

Professor of Biological Anthropology at Loughborough University Barry Bogin found that the children of a Maya community, from Guatemala, who were known for their short stature, grew an average of 11cm in one generation after migrating to Florida and California in the 1990s.

The Maya's relatives back home, who did not migrate, showed no signs of the same rapid growth which suggested the physical development was influenced by the change of environment.

Prof Bogin said the phenomenon, known as strategic height adjustment, is found among groups of people who escape poor living conditions, oppression or conflict, and settle in more prosperous environments.

His research, published in Anthropologischer Anzeiger: Journal of Biological and Clinical Anthropology, considered numerous other examples of migration and height change over the past 140 years, including rural Bangladeshis who came to London in the 1970s.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180308160710.htm

Anthropology:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1108

[mr_lebowski]

1. Over time I've become much more receptive to the idea that environment CAN ...

Actually affect and alter the gene-pool without the full process of generations of natural selection. In many cases it'll just be re-activation of dormant genes but I think a mechanism exists for really rapid change in a populations DNA, based on stresses and bountiful conditions and such, even in totally new situations where there isn't a 'gene record'.

I think we've maybe hewn a bit far towards Darwinian dogma afa 'natural selection' being the end-all goes, put it like that.

I think some advanced creatures have means of adapting to conditions at almost a 'population' level, genetically (at least within a few gens). Like, DNA actually got that smart, and to some extent 'advanced' past NatSec, over time. I really think that's possible.

If so, probably be in like Mammals, Bees, Ants, that kind of thing. Maybe birds and snakes. I said maybe. Some ...