5 ms·

Very interesting. Anyone else have examples, cases, etc. of this sort of thing occurring?

scottlocklin 7y ago
THere's a great series of books by the late William Corliss documenting anomalies (across all of the sciences) containing stuff like this. https://www.science-frontiers.com/sourcebk.htm#Biology https://www.science-frontiers.com/sourcebk.htm#Biology
- itsOnMe 7y ago
  These seem awesome, quite the number of anomalies he addresses.
Hitton 7y ago
Not sure what you consider it "this sort of thing", but native speakers of Australian aboriginal language Guugu Yimithirr have nearly superhuman sense of direction. They can automatically tell where is north, south, east, and west. http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jhaviland/Publications/ETHOSw.Diags.pdf http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jhaviland/Publications/ETHOSw.Diags.p...
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  Sounds like something that might have had survival value during 50.000 years in a big nondescript landscape. Yes, I'm making an evolutionary guess.
  - soperj 7y ago
    I believe they don't actually use left and right, but use the cardinal direction instead. So it's something they need to be constantly aware of. Ie: their kids song would go "Put your south hand in, put your south hand out.."
clouddrover 7y ago
This one is genetic rather than learnt, but some people have tetrachromacy. It gives them better colour vision: http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-humans-with-super-human-vision http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-humans-with-supe... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy
maxlamb 7y ago
Indonesia’s Bajau people, who for generations have spent the majority of their days diving and hunting underwater, have genetic adaptations that include spleens that are around 50% larger than those of their land-based neighbors. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/indonesian-divers-have-evolved-bigger-spleens-hunt-underwater https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/indonesian-divers-ha... You also have some populations who have been living in high altitude for many generations that have genetic adatptions to low-oxygen environments. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/07/tibetans-inherited-high-altitude-gene-ancient-human https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/07/tibetans-inherited-h...
feintruled 7y ago
The woman who doesn't feel pain: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-47719718 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-477... You'd imagine this would be basically a death sentence, but she's made it to old age. She also has a lack of adrenaline response, so is basically super chill. Hard to argue this is a beneficial mutation, but perhaps as technology evolves we could self-monitor artifically and not have to worry about these deeply unpleasant physiological warning bells?

THere's a great series of books by the late William Corliss documenting anomalies (across all of the sciences) containing stuff like this. https://www.science-frontiers.com/sourcebk.htm#Biology https://www.science-frontiers.com/sourcebk.htm#Biology

itsOnMe 7y ago
These seem awesome, quite the number of anomalies he addresses.

Hitton 7y ago

Not sure what you consider it "this sort of thing", but native speakers of Australian aboriginal language Guugu Yimithirr have nearly superhuman sense of direction. They can automatically tell where is north, south, east, and west. http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jhaviland/Publications/ETHOSw.Diags.pdf http://pages.ucsd.edu/~jhaviland/Publications/ETHOSw.Diags.p...

BurningFrog 7y ago
Sounds like something that might have had survival value during 50.000 years in a big nondescript landscape. Yes, I'm making an evolutionary guess.
- soperj 7y ago
  I believe they don't actually use left and right, but use the cardinal direction instead. So it's something they need to be constantly aware of. Ie: their kids song would go "Put your south hand in, put your south hand out.."

clouddrover 7y ago

This one is genetic rather than learnt, but some people have tetrachromacy. It gives them better colour vision: http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-humans-with-super-human-vision http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-humans-with-supe... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy

maxlamb 7y ago

Indonesia’s Bajau people, who for generations have spent the majority of their days diving and hunting underwater, have genetic adaptations that include spleens that are around 50% larger than those of their land-based neighbors. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/indonesian-divers-have-evolved-bigger-spleens-hunt-underwater https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/indonesian-divers-ha... You also have some populations who have been living in high altitude for many generations that have genetic adatptions to low-oxygen environments. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/07/tibetans-inherited-high-altitude-gene-ancient-human https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/07/tibetans-inherited-h...

feintruled 7y ago

The woman who doesn't feel pain: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-47719718 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-477... You'd imagine this would be basically a death sentence, but she's made it to old age. She also has a lack of adrenaline response, so is basically super chill. Hard to argue this is a beneficial mutation, but perhaps as technology evolves we could self-monitor artifically and not have to worry about these deeply unpleasant physiological warning bells?