Modern humans may be evolving to deal with carbohydrate-rich diets

IT IS EASY to assume that the long march of evolution has halted in modern man—that the safe, disease-free lives people now lead mean natural selection no longer operates on much of . It is an attractive idea. Frances Brodsky of University College, London and her colleagues, however, beg to differ. A paper they have just published in suggests that diet, at least, is still a selective pressure.Dr Brodsky and her team study proteins called clathrins. These are involved in a range of matters physiological, but one of the molecules the team is investigating, encoded by a gene called , is concerned with the regulation of blood-sugar levels. comes in two forms, one more efficient than the other at encouraging the removal of glucose from the blood. The team decided to look into the evolutionary history behind this.