It is a common belief in contemporary society that with technological advancement people are exempt from natural selection. This is due to the fact that individuals are provided with a wide range of possibilities to adapt to the modern environment, survive, and reproduce. However, there is still a question to what extent it is possible.
Even though I believe that the opportunities offered by the constant progress and development, it is not possible to fully prevent natural selection. While medicine and various innovations that are available for humans in the contemporary world have prevented many people from dying at an early age, human beings still go through constant change. Individuals are adapting to different environmental characteristics and advancements, just like the elephants in the video Pygmy Mammoth: Life and Times. Therefore, it cannot be stated that natural selection has stopped but rather slowed down significantly.
The forces and mechanisms of evolution that can easily be identified are natural selection, mutation, migration which is also called gene flow, and genetic drift. Talking about a specific force that has the potential to drive a biological change over time and influence the lives and health of human beings, it is necessary to examine mutations. Mutations happen all the time without people even noticing because it happens on the inside rather than the outside. Such phenomena as radiation and chemicals which exists and increase in the contemporary environment have a huge impact on human DNA and, eventually, health. It Is believed that in case the level of radiation is not decreased immediately, more and more individuals will start suffering from cancer, skin and lung illnesses, and infertility.
Reference
Pygmy Mammoth: Life and times [Video]. (n.d.). Web.