In 1859 Charles Robert Darwin published "On the Origin of Species".
Which contained the most compelling evidence to ever support the theory of evolution.
Since then Darwin's theory has been widely accepted within the scientific community.
If Darwin is to be believed, it took the human race 6 million years to evolve from chimpanzees
to modern day homo sapiens.
But will human's ever evolve again?
Or has the human race reached its physical and mental peak?
Let's find out.
Many skeptics argue that humans have reached their evolutionary peak.
Because evolution is about a species adapting itself to its environment.
But humans have learnt to adapt the environment to us.
For example, instead of the body having to adapt to living in a cold climate we instead
build a house around us and install heating.
And there you go, instant warmth, with no further evolution needed.
Thousands of years ago humans evolved to run faster and see further away in the distance
to aid us when hunting animals.
But now we buy our food from the shop, and we don't need to run anywhere because we have
cars.
We also don't need to see long distances because we spend all day staring at computer screens.
So based on this, the rules of evolution state that humans have no further need to evolve
and therefore will never evolve again.
There's also the issue of modern medicine.
As wonderful as it is, it does prohibit evolution.
Before modern medicine the weak would die out and only the strongest and fittest would
pass on their genes to the next generation.
However today, weak individuals who previously wouldn't have survived a disease or an injury,
now survive, thanks to modern medicine.
The downside to this is that their weak genes get passed on, just as much as those with
strong genes.
This essentially makes the theory of "survival of the fittest" null and void in the modern
day.
But all that sounds awfully boring!
Some leading anthropologists entertain another school of thought which is far more titillating.
They believe that there are ways we can, and will evolve in the modern world, and the results
will be quite shocking.
And it's not just speculation, there is hard proof that humans are still evolving.
A study by the evolutionary biology team at Yale university revealed that due to the size
and shape of their ovaries, shorter and slightly plumper women tend to have more children than
their taller, skinny counterparts.
This is an example of evolution happening right under our noses.
Many scientists agree that if we do evolve in the near future the first thing that will
change will be the size of our brains.
The biggest evolutionary changes have come from the brain, such as abstract thinking
which led us to new inventions, and of course language.
So it makes sense that in our modern world where information rules, the brain will be
the next thing to evolve.
But can our brains, physically, get any larger?
Well the biggest factor that has limited human brain size up until now has been the birthing
process.
Baby's heads must be able to fit through the birth canal, which has stopped their brains
from growing any larger in the womb.
But with the massive rise in Caesarian sections in recent years, this could all be about to
change.
Today, over 50% of babies in China are delivered via C-section.
And of course a C-section means no more limits on the size a babies head can grow.
Some anthropologists believe this growing C-section trend could give way to babies being
born with increasingly larger brains and heads in the future.
Some theorise that in a few generations down the line, humans could have huge heads and
scrawny bodies, just like aliens in science fiction films.
But what about our physical appearance?
Surely there's no further need for humans to evolve any more in this respect?
Well there isn't a need in terms of survival, but scientists think in the future we will
evolve to look different nevertheless.
This is because, more so than ever before, males are choosing their sexual partners based
on looks and intelligence levels as opposed to their ability to produce healthy offspring.
Therefore, more attractive and more intelligent females will get more chances to reproduce
and pass on their genes.
The consequence of this is that the human race will ultimately evolve to be smarter
and well, generally more pleasant to look at.
This type of selection based on attractiveness, does of course happen with both genders, but
research has shown it's considerably more prominent amongst males.
This is a newly emerging evolutionary phenomenon which scientists refer to as "artificial selection"
as opposed to "natural selection".
Because it's no longer mother nature and our environment that chooses how we evolve, it's
now humans themselves who are deciding which genes get passed on and which don't.
But natural selection isn't dead just yet.
Our environment still poses a massive risk to us.
As the population of the human race increases and we become a more globalised community,
traveling back and forth to every corner of the planet.
We are spreading pathogens easier and quicker than ever before.
Biologists predict that were going to get a lot more virus epidemics in the coming years
and huge chunks of the population with weak immune systems and poor access to modern healthcare
will be killed off.
The result of this is that humans will evolve to have stronger immune systems naturally
and become less dependant on medicine and the global life expectancy will rise.
But changes such as this will take thousands of years before we really start to notice
the difference.
So yes, humans are still only in their infancy when it comes to evolution.
There's a lot more weird and wacky mutations to come in the future.
But there's one thing you can guarantee, the human race a million years from now will look
remarkably different and function in completely different ways than they do today.