Waring research finds culture driving human evolution more than genetics
In a new study, UMaine researchers Tim Waring and Zach Wood found that culture helps humans adapt to their environment and overcome challenges better and faster than genetics.
“In the very long term, we suggest that humans are evolving from individual genetic organisms to cultural groups which function as superorganisms, similar to ant colonies and beehives,” Waring says.
Waring is an associate professor of social-ecological systems modeling in the School of Economics and the Mitchell Center. He applies cultural evolution to the study of sustainability in social-ecological systems and cooperation in organizational evolution.
He partnered with Wood, a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Biology and Ecology at UMaine, on this research and their findings were published in a literature review in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the flagship biological research journal of The Royal Society in London.
Read more at UMaine News.
The research was also featured in a recent episode of Live Science.