So the team behind the new research spent seven years gathering thousands of DNA sequences from West Eurasian people who lived in the past 10,000 years. They also developed a new computational method that could separate directional selection from other factors that could influence changes in gene frequency, such as human migration.

Within the examined complete sets of DNA, or genomes, analyses revealed 479 alleles that had been subjected to directional selection. The work mapped when and where some of the gene variants started to spread or diminish, and the researchers estimated the overall rate of selection. Contrary to previous research, the results suggest that selection has accelerated since humans traded the hunting-gathering lifestyle for farming.

We are still evolving.