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from the next-up:-compare-top-tier-athletes dept.
Bajau people, an ethnic group of "sea nomads" in Southeast Asia, have evolved bigger spleens that aid their frequent diving activity:
In a striking example of natural selection, the Bajau people of South-East Asia have developed bigger spleens for diving, a study shows. The Bajau are traditionally nomadic and seafaring, and survive by collecting shellfish from the sea floor.
Scientists studying the effect of this lifestyle on their biology found their spleens were larger than those of related people from the region. The bigger spleen makes more oxygen available in their blood for diving. The researchers have published their results in the academic journal Cell [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054] [DX].
Located close to the stomach, the fist-sized spleen removes old cells from the blood and acts as a biological "scuba tank" during long dives.
The Bajau people live across the southern Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and, according to rough estimates, number about one million people. "For possibly thousands of years, [they] have been living on house boats, travelling from place to place in the waters of South-East Asia and visiting land only occasionally. So everything they need, they get from the sea," first author Melissa Ilardo, from the University of Copenhagen, told the BBC's Inside Science programme.
Also at Scientific American and GEN.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 22 2018, @03:03PM (3 children)
In keeping with the tenor already set here, the question is, "Are they still human?"
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Sunday April 22 2018, @04:53PM
No: now they're homonyms.
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Sunday April 22 2018, @06:03PM
I'd prefer a switch to baritone.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @06:48PM
they can produce perfectly healthy offspring with other humans.
so yes, they are still human.
just like white blond blue eyed people are still human, even though the original homo sapiens were somewhat brown, with black eyes and dark brown hair. (for confirmation, look at the remote community in SouthEast Africa who are known to have the most diverse genomes on the planet).