---
title: "Human Mutation Is Slowing Down"
description: "The human mutation rate has slowed down significantly over the past million years or so, firming up the timeline of primate evolution."
date: "2019-01-23"
modified: "2019-01-23"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/human-mutation-rate-slowing"
categories:
  - "Evolution"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "evolution"
  - "genetics"
  - "mutations"
  - "primates"
  - "the digest"
---

# Human Mutation Is Slowing Down

![The human mutation rate has slowed down significantly over the past million years or so, according to new research, raising new questions.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/the-mutation-rate-in-humans-is-slowing-down.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Papafox\</em\>*

## Mutation Station

The rate of mutation in the human genome has slowed significantly over the past million years or so, according to new research — firming up the timeline of primate evolution.

"The times of speciation we can now calculate on the basis of the new rate fit in much better with the speciation times we would expect from the dated fossils of human ancestors that we know of," Aarhus University researcher Mikkel Heide Schierup said in a [press release](<https://phys.org/news/2019-01-human-mutation.html>).

"The reduction in the human mutation rate demonstrated in the study could also mean that we have to change the estimate for the split between Neanderthals and humans to be closer to the present," he added.

## Stable Genome

To gather data for the [new paper](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0778-x>), published in the journal *Nature Ecology and Evolution* on Monday, Schierup andcolleagues at Aarhus and the Copenhagen Zoo examined the sequenced genomes of human families and families of chimpanzees, gorillas**,** and orangutans.

They found about a third fewer mutations between generations of humans than between generations of primates. In the paper, they describe this as an "appreciable slowdown" that could alter the current understanding of human genetic history.

## Conservation Situation

The researchers also believe their paper could provide new insights into how great apes will deal with a changing environment.

"All species of great apes are endangered in the wild," Copenhagen Zoo researcher Christina Hvilsom said in the press release. "With more accurate dating of how populations have changed in relation to climate over time, we can get a picture of how species could cope with future climate change."

**READ MORE:** [Human Mutation Rate Has Slowed Recently](<https://phys.org/news/2019-01-human-mutation.html>) \[*Phys.org*\]

***More on mutations:*** [Mutated Animals Show Why Gene Editing Isn't Ready for Human Trials](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/gene-editing-mutated-animals-crispr>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)