The pace of life is leaving me behind! :)

[QUOTE]HUMAN evolution is speeding up. Around 40,000 years ago our genes began to evolve much faster. By 5000 years ago they were evolving 30 to 40 times faster than ever before and it seems highly likely that we continue to evolve at this super speed today.[/QUOTE]~New Scientist~

I imagine this has to do with greater numbers and complexities of environmental stressors that we have to adapt to ... complicated social systems that require developable linguistics, environmental changes that call for adaptations, changes in the food we eat, and improved sanitation and medicine (which enhance lifespans, thus prompting the body to have to address its own deficiencies).

I like to think that the increased pressure from creationists to throw reason and experiment to the winds is a kind of stressor -- it's ultimately helping the species as a whole advance in its thinking capacity.