Human evolution increasing rapidly, says study

Recent research has shown that humans are evolving at a faster rate than normal as anthropological differences are becoming more widespread than in the recent past.

Henry Harpending, a lead anthropological researcher on how humans are rapidly evolving, said that "I was raised with the belief that modern humans showed up 40,000 to 50,000 years ago and haven't changed ... the opposite seems to be true. Our species is not static."

Are we evolving really, really fast? Well, yes and no -- evolution takes thousands of years, but the rate at which many of us living in close proximity are becoming more different is rapidly changing according to experts. The research also showed that evolution had been much slower in the recent past than in the present.