Natural selection in human populations continues today, and scientists are studying the prospects for its influence on human genes
Scientists have discovered that natural selection is happening right now among humans high in the mountains of Nepal. The physiological traits that help Tibetan women survive at high altitude are being selected for within the population, meaning they could become more common. The people of Papua New Guinea, who have been genetically isolated for millennia, carry unique genes that help them fight off infections, and some of these genes come from our extinct human cousins, the Denisovans. Hundreds of human genes have been affected by natural selection over the past 3,000 years.