EVOLUTION COULD STOP ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN ITS TRACKS

We may not often see it working, but evolution never takes a holiday. Along with every plant and animal on the planet, we’re evolving too, changing in subtle ways that are unknown to us. A paper published recently in the journal

Nature, Ecology & Evolution suggests that this natural process could be helping humans develop a gene that could cause an “adverse physical response” when alcohol is consumed. The authors of the paper believe the process has already begun, as there are people who find any form of alcohol extremely unpleasant. Once this gene has been inherited by different populations, the human race could even stop drinking alcohol altogether. In fact, evolution is already to blame for the gene variation that has made many ethnic groups lactose intolerant.