On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 20:00:55 -0400, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>
wrote:

A medical friend
said currently malaria is the thing currently putting the most
evolutionary pressure on human beings at present.

Ask him to consider what I posted. <https://www.sciencenews.org/article/malaria-parasite-mosquitoes-genetics-immune-system>

These research findings, if valid, may change his and others
perspective.

RE: "Dramatic evolution within human genome may have been caused by
malaria parasite." <https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/dramatic-evolution-within-human-genome-may-have-been-caused-malaria-parasite>

Maybe malaria parasite changed...notice cite above says "may"

Diving into specifics, from Sciencemag cite:

"That's a bit mysterious because the disease caused by P. vixax is
much less deadly than that caused by other Plasmodium strains, says
David Serre, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland's
Institute for Genome Science in Baltimore who wasn't involved with
this work. "You get sick, you stay in bed for a few weeks, and most of
the time you get better." One wouldn't expect such a powerful
evolutionary response to a relatively benign disease, he notes."

First article I cited noted,

"During Africa's dry season, when mosquitoes are scarce, malaria
parasites have a hard time spreading to new hosts. So the parasites
hide out in the human body by keeping the cells they infect from
clinging to blood vessels, researchers report October 26 in Nature
Medicine. This way, infected cells get removed from circulation and
parasite levels in the body remain low, making people less sick and
allowing the parasite to persist undetected. "


I don't know the specifics here, but those two cites above seem to be
in conflict...need more specifics.

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RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> writes:

Interesting stuff. I've lived most of my life in malarial places, and
watched a lot of poor people suffer mightily from it. A medical friend
said currently malaria is the thing currently putting the most
evolutionary pressure on human beings at present.

... other than our own stupidity, I'm sure. Hey, does it seem there are
more storms this year? Nah. Couldn't be. Carry on shopping, people.

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On Wed, 28 Oct 2020 11:47:21 -0400, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>
wrote:

Hey, does it seem there are
more storms this year?

I'm not aware of this on Earth's poles...just lightening strikes..PS
see slideshow in article.

August 13, 2019

Lightning struck near the North Pole 48 times. It's not normal.

A warmer Arctic in general provided the fuel for lightning-producing thunderheads to move north.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/lightning-struck-near-north-pole-why-strange/

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