I just read an article called Adventures in Very Recent Evolution, and it was pretty interesting. On the second page it lightly went over how Asians and Northern Europeans went different genetic routes to lighter skin, and also discussed soft sweeps, which apparently, if I read it correctly while still slightly sleepy, can speed up the reach of evolution through a population. (If that is totally wrong please correct me).
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/sc...=MYWAY&ei=5065
I hope this hasn't been posted already. I tried to do a search, but it got stuck, and so I did a quicker search for some of the article title words, but didn't see much. (We just moved, and I am utterly worn out rather consistently, so be gentle if this is already out there, please!)
I am getting ready to take my first genetics class this upcoming semester, which starts in about a month or so, and I really hope we get into some of the time spans that have been theorized about, in regards to how long it must take for a trait to spread far enough to have a significant impact on the whole of a population.
I always felt that something was missing in what I've read so far, because it seemed that random mutation and natural selection, on their own, were almost too easy an answer. Some of the traits that just fit like gloves to certain aspects of their environment seem so perfect, it makes me wonder if we are equipped with some other mechanism to more easily allow helpful mutations for certain situations, but it is likely I just don't know enough about any of this yet.
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