Mutant powers: Adaptation to low oxygen levels

Human evolution is not finished, and the University of California has discovered some startling new evidence for this: Certain genetic changes, found in people who live at high altitudes, make people better able to cope with the low oxygen levels and pressures - they are literally evolving for high altitudes.

Ohhh, pretty. Lethally cold, lethally low levels of oxygen, but pretty. Unless you have the genetic changes for high altitude, in which case ...enjoy!

This isn't just important for selecting who goes on your hand picked sherpa team though: This could have important implications for sufferers of heart disease: By working out how these genetic changes let people live with less oxygen in their blood we could discover a bunch of new treatments.

 

Boom boom, boom boom, boom boom.

Oh, and the recent reports of Sherpas getting uppity and trying to throw people off their mountain aren't the first signs of a movement towards mutant freedom - that was just  ordinary human arseholeness.

Here's the report from UoC.