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In a worldwide survey of 50 populations, a team of geneticists has identified many fingerprints of natural selection in the human genome. These are sites on the genome where specific sequences of DNA show signs of having become more common in the population, presumably because they helped their owners adapt to new climates, diseases or other factors.

The genetic regions where natural selection has acted turn out to differ in various populations, doubtless because each has been molded by different local forces on each continent.

This chart shows the sites along the genome (listed at the left) at which natural selection has occurred in the genome of eight regional groups (shown at top). These are 1) Biaka pygmies, 2) Bantu-speaking Africans, 3) Western Europeans, 4) Middle Easterners, 5) South Asians (people of Pakistan and India), 6) East Asians, 7) Oceanians and 8) Native Americans. The colored bars show the degree of selection at each site, with yellow denoting a signal of clear but moderate statistical significance and red denoting high statistical significance.

The three West Eurasian groups show very similar...