People Are Growing An Extra Artery, And It Proves Humans Are Still Evolving
Photo ID 113528191 © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com
Usually, when us humans are forming in the womb, we have an extra artery—the median artery—that runs temporarily down the center of our forearm. This tends to disappear around eight weeks in.
Formed in very early stages of development, the vessel’s purpose is to “feed” blood into a fetus’ growing hands. When it regresses, the responsibilities are passed on to the radial and ulnar arteries. In a minority of babies, they’re born with it still intact, and it remains there throughout the rest of their life.
But it has been recently discovered that more and more of us are retaining this extra artery, suggesting that humans are still in the middle of evolving as a species.
Researchers from Flinders University and the University of Adelaide, Australia, have deduced that more adults than ever still have this blood vessel. They investigated the upper limbs of 78 Australians aged above 51 years old, and these findings have been published in the Journal of Anatomy.
In a statement, one of the researchers, Teghan Lucas, explained that research has been done on this particular artery since the 18th century and it has been getting increasingly common ever since then.
“The prevalence was around 10 percent in people born in the mid-1880s compared to 30 percent in those born in the late 20th century, so that's a significant increase in a fairly short period of time when it comes to evolution,” he clarifies.
While this notion of having more blood may come in handy when it comes to health and mobility, it also comes with a risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, as noted by ScienceAlert. This, ironically, affects the use of hands.
A threefold increase in a short amount of time indicates natural selection favoring those with the extra edge up when it comes to blood flow in the body.
Lucas explains that this would’ve been a result of genetic mutations involved in the development of the artery or health problems sustained by the mother during pregnancy, or both.
“If this trend continues, a majority of people will have median artery of the forearm by 2100,” he adds.
[via ScienceAlert, photo ID 113528191 © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com]
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