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If you've ever wondered why Dutch people are so tall, this story from The New York Times may have the answer:
Today, the Dutch are on average the tallest people on the planet. Just 150 years ago, they were relatively short. In 1860, the average Dutch soldier in the Netherlands was just 5 feet 5 inches. American men were 2.7 inches taller.
Since 1860, average heights have increased in many parts of the world, but no people have shot up like the Dutch. The average Dutchman now stands over six feet tall. And while the growth spurt in the United States has stopped in recent years, the Dutch continue to get taller.
For years, scientists have sought to understand why average height has increased, and why the Dutch in particular have grown so quickly. Among other factors, the Dutch have a better diet than in the past, and they also have better medical care. But now Dr. Stulp and his colleagues have found evidence suggesting that evolution itself is also helping to make them taller.
It seems that taller men in the Netherlands are more likely to father more children:
Dr. Stulp and his colleagues analyzed data on 42,612 men and women over age 45, looking at the height of their subjects and how many children they had. Dutch men who were taller than average had more children than those of average or lower than average height, the researchers found.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @09:43PM
Natural selection explains blacks in the USA. For 350 years, they were bred to be strong and muscular for field labor. The ones who were smart and resisted were killed while their obedient cousins stayed around to breed and replenish the next generation. Eventually, the large majority of the population became stronger, larger, but more docile and dependent. Today, black culture in America is characterized by groupthink (some 99% voting for the same political party that enacted Jim Crow laws and supported the Klan) and broken families....the lasting legacy of slavery.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @09:50PM
Natural selection explains blacks in the USA. For 350 years, they were bred to be strong and muscular for field labor.
The last guy who said that got fired from CBS [wikipedia.org]. Besides, it's not NATURAL selection if someone is choosing which ones breed for the express purpose of breeding better laborers.