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Are there other human traits like light skin which people developed to adapt to the "new" environment they settled in?

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linucs@lemmy.ml
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askscience@lemmy.world
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I’m referring to the human race evolving in the African continent and then migrating to the rest of the world.

Evolving in Europe made people light skinned to account for the reduction in sunlight exposure, are there any other traits which other ethnicities developed to adapt to their new environment? Or are the diifferent traits in different ethnicities just stuff that developed by chance and got somehow reinforced because of the isolation between populations?

This question came to my mind first thinking about “Asian eyes”, do they serve any “purpose”?

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dizzy@lemmy.ml
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Less than 5000 years ago, northern europeans developing a genetic mutation that allowed them to digest cow’s milk.

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NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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But then how do other non-European groups like Middle Easterners and Asians drink it normally? Did they independently evolve the same mutation?

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MalReynolds@slrpnk.net
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Fermentation (kefir, yoghurt, cheese). Recently lactase.

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dizzy@lemmy.ml
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I’m no expert but I think it’s a mutation that still isn’t universal i.e. there is still a very large lactose-intolerant population in east-asia, which is also reflected in their cuisine.

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