More Mosquitoes Likely To Be Killing Us Soon

Seems like it was only last week that Glenn Beck was doubting evolutionary science on his radio show, on the basis of his having never seen a "half-monkey, half-person." And I can sympathize! Why won't our monkeys accommodate us by evolving, in real time, to a higher order of primate right before our very eyes? I can't tell you how many times I've admonished the simians at the National Zoo, "Sure, some of you use tools, and that's great! But where are your college rock radio stations? Where are your municipal zoning boards?" Eventually I am tased and forcibly removed, but I keep donating to FONZ and they keep letting me back in. It's a vicious cycle.

The good news is, outside the world of primates, it's possible to track the way nature spurs evolutionary development. Here's Dave Bry, at the Awl:

Mosquitoes are doing so well, in fact, that a single strain, the Anopheles Gambiae of Africa, is mutating into two separate species. Each adapted to suit different environmental conditions, so more and more of the planet can be covered in their teeming swarms.

The bad news, of course, is that mosquitoes are responsible "for one human death every forty seconds" and "half of all human deaths since the stone age." And now we have more mosquitoes to look forward to! Of course, this development is either the cause of natural conditions goosing evolution, or because God is mad at us for telling gay teens that "it gets better." Pick your side!

READ THE WHOLE THING:
The Future Will Be Itchy, Deadly [The Awl]

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