Darwin might have been impressed with this one: A group of scientists in China, Denmark and the U.S. recently documented the fastest genetic change observed in humans.
According to their findings, Tibetan adaption to high altitude might have taken just 3,000 years. That's a flash, in terms of evolutionary time , but it's one that's in dispute.
The most dramatic genetic mutation was found in almost 90 percent of modern day Tibetans, but less that 10 percent of Han Chinese. (The Han is the majority ethnic group in China. Tibetans split with them thousands of years ago.)
It's the gene that seems to help the Tibetans live comfortably in the oxygen-scarce environments they call home, 4,000 meters above sea level.
