3. The increase in world population (throughout the 1900's)

The dramatic increase in the number of human beings on the planet over the last 100 years is surely one of the century's most important developments. Some anthropologists suggested that because of the enormous size of the present human population, and its ability to move about the planet (see No. 7), human evolution has essentially come to an end.

These scientists argued that genetic mutations, the mechanism which introduces new features into a species and drives evolution, will no longer be able to spread through the now vast human population. Thus, change will not be possible, and the species may no longer be capable of modifying itself via the action of natural selection. However, we will certainly be able to modify our biology via genetic manipulation.

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Alan E. Mann is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. His Top 10 list reviews the 1900's in a general historical light and shows how the major events affected the work and chief concerns of anthropologists. He generally calls attention to broad movements rather than single momentous events. He points to the rapid population growth during the 1900's and reveals why some anthropologists link this trend to the end of human evolution.

1.

The effects of World War II (1939-1945) on theories of race
2. Social change caused by World War I (1914-1918)
3. The increase in world population (throughout the 1900's)
4.

The development of genetics (mid-1900's)
5. Gaining understanding of the atomic structure of matter (middle to late 1900's)
6. The development of antibiotics (middle to late 1900's)
7. The impact of automobile and airplane travel (throughout the 1900's)
8. The rise of the computer-based Information Age (middle to late 1900's)
9. The development of effective and safe methods of birth control (mid-1900's)
10. Accepting the theory of continental drift (late 1900's)