While it’s certainly a possibility, it’s very, very unlikely we’ll witness a new species of human evolve in the near future. This is primarily because we’re globally connected in a way that our ancestors never were – but it could happen one day...
Unlike those that came before us, modern humans can - quite literally - move mountains to ensure populations don’t become geographically isolated.
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There are, of course, geographically isolated groups of humans alive today; for example, the indigenous tribe that inhabits North Sentinel Island. There are also examples from history where groups have been isolated for thousands of years, such as the Aboriginal Australians who migrated to Australia roughly 50,000 years ago and remained largely separated from the rest of the world until the 17th century.
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In both examples, these isolated groups remained the same species. This is down to the fact that evolution and speciation are complicated processes and not just driven by a single mechanism, i.e. geographic isolation.
As well as being physically isolated, populations must be subjected to sufficient evolutionary pressures and accumulate random mutations for many, many generations without interruption from another group. And even then, changes may not be significant enough to define a new ‘species’.
That said, there are two things evolutionary biologists think may drive future human evolution - space travel and genetic tinkering.
While moonbases and colonies on Mars are still concepts firmly in the realm of science fiction, they are projects that many organisations are actively working on. In a hypothetical scenario where a group of humans settles on the Moon, or Mars, and finds itself cut off from Earth for thousands of years, then we may witness a new species of human emerge.
These isolated humans would undoubtedly face a lot of selective pressures; prolonged time in space, or under different gravities, may lead to physiological changes, such as weakened bones and muscle atrophy. The species that emerges from such an isolated population may be taller and leaner than their cousins on Earth.
This kind of speculative, ‘interstellar’ evolution seems a bit far-fetched, but the other potential driver of future human evolution - genetic tinkering - is a very real and concerning issue.
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As technology improves, it’s becoming increasingly easy for scientists to genetically modify and permanently alter the DNA of living organisms.
This technology stretches to humans and while it’s generally illegal for clinical application, there certainly exists a future where these regulations are lifted and individuals are able to make ‘designer babies’ with all sorts of predetermined genetic advantages.
These kinds of germline therapies will likely only be available to those with the money to pay for them, creating an upper class of ‘enhanced’ individuals that, over generations and further germline therapies, may establish a new species.
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