Human evolution continues and one of the traits that are changing is our bones and teeth. A new study from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia explains why more and more children are born without wisdom teeth or with extra bones.
The human body is experiencing a “microevolution“: as the facial structure and some other bones become shorter, a trend is emerging where more and more people are born without wisdom teeth due to our eating habits.
“This is happening in time as we have learnt to use fire and process foods more. A lot of people are just being born without wisdom teeth,” explains Dr. Teghan Lucas, author of the study.
This is not the only alteration that has been detected. An up to three times higher incidence in the last century of the so-called median artery is also being observed, an over-artery that some people have and usually disappears over the gestation period of the fetus.
The research also points to an increase in the prevalence of cases of extra bones in the arms and legs, as well as abnormal connections of two or more bones in the feet. These changes are associated with the pressure exerted by natural selection in the human body.
