On Mon, 22 May 2006, Squad wrote:

>
> > wrote in message oups.com...
>>
>> Dana Carpender wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Actually, skeletal evidence shows that when hunter-gatherers became
>>> farmers, they got shorter, with weak bones and bad teeth, probably due
>>> to the fact that grain phytates bind up minerals. Doesn't sound like
>>> thriving, really.

bad teeth are from sugar. gingivitis, i can see. but toothrot is
something from the 1700's. cite yer sources.

>> People today are much taller on average than people were just a couple
>> hundred years ago. If people are shorter because of grains, then why we
>> are taller now, as we eat more grains than ever before?
>>
>> I suspect the people getting shorter in the past was for a different
>> reason.

poor nutrition, mostly.

>> People from colder climates tend to have smaller noses with with small
>> nostrils to keep out the cold. Skin color - we got all these diffferent
>> skin tones from various levels of exposure to the sun. Some people
>> needed more natural protection than others.

can we please stop this? you obviously have forgotten that "dark" is
natural -- lighter skins allow more efficient vitamin E production from
sunlight.

>> We may all be mixed up now. But back when people were sequestered in
>> various groupings, the people adapted as a group to their particular
>> evironment. It didn't take 50,000 years to produce people of various
>> skin tones or different styles of noses.

mutations are mutations. they dont' spread across a population evenly.
We know what the "constellation" of genes for mathematical aptitude is.
Doesn't mean everyone's got it.

Lena