It is of course possible that the rapid evolution of intellectual abilities have resulted in significantly less selection pressure on humans. Chimps are on average much stronger than humans, and having none of the mnemonic technology that we have devised, are obliged to remember information such as spatial locations that we relegate to maps and GPSs. Many thinkers have speculated upon the relationship between extraordinary ability and decadence. The question of whether we can exert selection pressures on ourselves to counteract the tendency of species that are isolated from competition to become susceptible to takeover by invasive species may be crucial to our survival. Can we continue to outthink nature? I hope so.

Jim Lemon, Gladesville, Australia

quote : "It underlines that evolution is not a matter of progress towards a goal, and that it is incorrect to assume that more intelligent species are “more evolved”."

that was a really interesting point, but i think its important to keep an open mind with this data, in that evolution, as part of what you've called "grand enhancement" needs to have a spread of risk across species and environments so as to maintain a platform for evolution in the event of a 'higher' species failure. I'm sure if humans still lived in the jungle we'd have mutations favourable to swinging through trees, but we've isolated ourselves in a synthetic environment and thus the outcome of our own evolution will be much different. Its also difficult to make an assumption that evolution is without goal when we haven't yet observed other sentient, creative intelligences.

who knows, maybe the chimps know something we don't! :)

michael, brisbane, australia

DC, I'm sure that "creationists" can see clearly what this study means. They're just saying that for years there's been an abundance of evidence for adaptation according to needs, just not speciation. Evolutionists use hazy definitions of what a "species" is to try to support their claims.

Evolutionists have always played the "intelligent" card to dismiss people who believe in a creator as being somehow unable to think for themselves, or, as you tried to say, they just don't understand the research somehow. Yes, some creationists are swayed by sentimentality but I'm not one of them. Again, it's not the evidence that's in question it's the conclusions that are. I suspect that scientists will never accept that any being in the universe is more intelligent than they are. This is the cause of the problem.

Henry Starling, Liverpool, u

This can't be that surprising. Humans are wonderfully adaptable - culturally and behaviourally. If it's too dry, we generally don't die, not because we have brilliant genetic adaptations, but because we use other coping strategies e.g. inventing pipes and pumps. This insulates us from having our phenotypes "optimised" by the stresses in our environment.

Chimps on the other don't have such a luxury. They are intelligent, and to some extent can adapt behaviourally, but do not show the same abilities as, some others have also posted, to "shape" their environment, and therefore are nearer the cutting edge of natural selection.

Just my two pennies worth anyway. And as for the posting that this makes a nonsense of evolutionary theory - I think you should actually try and understand something before rubbishing it. When(if) you understand it, and it still comes up short as an explanation, then you can pontificate, and maybe come up with something intelligent in its place.

DC, Retford, UK

By this logic, bacteria are more evolved than humans are; and this article only proves how under-evolved journalists are. The reason that the human population DNA hasn’t changed as much are many fold but included migration, population size and social artifacts that have decreased natural selections impact on society. I personally like to look at what mankind has achieved art, music, science, mathematics, the list goes on; beat that monkey boy.

Paul Graham, Greenwich,

Perhaps chimp females are more picky about who they breed with, compared to some humans and the sub-gorillas they appear to favour. Alternatively - or even also - perhaps we humans concentrate on changing the environment to suit us, rather than being changed to suit the environment.

Alison, North Wales,

There are so many things wrong with this article that I don't know if it is the fault of the scientists or the journalist. Whatever the evolutionary selection that has occurred in human has made human more successful as a species simply in terms of survival (there is a huge difference in the number of humans and chimps). Thus whatever evolutionary selection that has occurred in human must be better than than what happened in chimps. It's the quality of changes, not the number of genes subjected to adaptive variation. It is wrong to say here: "It underlines that evolution is not a matter of progress towards a goal. " There is a goal, and the goal is survival, and human is ahead of chimp in that respect.

haz, Oxford,

If you read carefully, the chimps are not 'ahead' as suggested by the headline - they are simply more distant (in genetic mutations) from our common ancestor.

Evolution does not in itself confer intelligence; it is just a measure of the success of various random changes in helping the survival of a genome

Nigel, Suffolk, UK

I very much agree with Adrian's statement. It would seem fair to say that humans have largely evolved beyond natural selection. We care for the sick and impaired whereas evolution in the wild wouldn't be so considerate. Pair this with Matt's observation around single partners for life and you could argue physical evolution is stagnant for humans. I believe our evolutionary path is now far more about mental growth and learning.
The modern stereotype alpha male is no longer one of physical strength, fighting ability or the number of females he is currently mating with, to the contrary. He has become a character of intelligence, fame and fortune. To compare humans with chimps is no longer valid, we're just not in the same race!

Charles Read, Reading, UK

True safwaan, physicists accept that at the beginning of time there was a massive burst of energy from which all known stable subatomic particles were produced. It's a deep shame that most people believe that this cosmically huge nuts event just came out of nowhere, for no reason, caused by no-one. Who's crazy now?

Take the miller experiment for example, widely cited. Whom does the scientist arranging the apparatus so carefully represent? Also, nobody would say that a computer evolved from lesser parts, yet the brain is considerably more complex. I've heard professional scientists say that the speech area is an evolutionary mystery. Neurologists can't even simulate the brain properly and yet they expect us to accept that it arose via random mutations. Isn't nature clever. I'll have to have a chat with nature one day. I wonder how she's doing.

Henry Starling, Liverpool, UK

This is hardly surprising. A recent report on the expansion from Homo Sapiens from Africa- unfortunately I can't recall the exact source. other than that this was demonstrated in a BBC programme - showed that we are all the produce of a single human female. In the programme the migration was shown to be by way of the Yemen up through Israel. This is based on analysis of female DNA, which is more stable in any case than that of males.

Alistair Hill, Hildesheim, Geermany

Roll on.. " and the next PM of the UK may be a chimp "
could be the way forward looking at the alternatives, at least they don't deliberately go to war.

Dave, Groningen, Netherlands

Of course soon evolution will be disproven and there will be a paradigm shift to another bogus theory because people are too blind to see what is right under their noses. Think of other things we have made assumptions about in science that have proven wrong: Bohr's Model of the atom! Now we know that model is totally wrong.

John, Dallas, TX

Have we been so busy planning new strategies to improve our brain functions that we forgot to evolve?

Karen, Mexico, Mexico

We reached an evolutionary peak 100,000 or so years ago. And since then we've been using artificial environs - be they clothes, medicines, 'unnatural' diet or social structures - to mitigate natural selection. And nature is cruel, the reality is that in the wild neither my children - both short sighted - or myself with hayfever would reach breeding age. But with spectacles and Pyriton tables, we survive and flourish, but our gene's haven't and won't adapt to even these minor ailments. Basically, all humanities gene's are slowly being corrupted when the pressures of natural selection are taken out. Thank god (if thats your belief) for the coming of genetic therapies!

Andrew, Portsmouth, UK

Chris from Wakefield's comments are typical of the ramblings of all creationists. His 'powerful proof' is not even a coherent sentence! Phil Begay's observation is just but note that one does not need to 'believe' in evolution - it is an observable phenomenon and the tremendously powerful explicative foundation of biology. Scientists do not need join hands every Sunday and sing praises to the Helix, Gene and Chromasome in order to convince each other of their existence.

George Lennan, La Rochelle, France

I can't say that it is very surprising that these findings from the University of Michigan point to the suggestion "that chimps may actually have adapted more to their environment as a result of natural selection." After all the most important aspect of human nature is that we adapt the environment to suit our perceived needs rather than evolve around our environment. Unfortunately that is why we see such a industrialised landscape around us.

Carl White, Leeds,

Chris from Wakefield (and the like minded):

Someone wrote in a book 1500 years ago that God said something. You claim that single passage disproves all science that has come since? What evidence do you use to support your belief? A gut feeling that God exists?
Seriously! A passage that says, "If ever there comes a time when this book doesn't explain your beliefs thoroughly enough, then that itself, is proof that I exist" And you buy it?
Maybe you believe that God made all this happen. That he's driven evolution and inspired all these disoveries. I guess that's why he gave us the ability to enjoy theatre and film. It's our love for the artificial, the contrived, much like this whole world according to your belief. All that we are and will ever be is a game for a higher power. We're just playing through the motions, we might as well just give up science altogether and just worhip. Build some temples, take a load off and chant to each other. That might get things done.

Jim, Scottsdale, Az

Interesting results. I am simply free thinking here. One possibility for this difference between chimps and humans is partly the result of modern humans living in a "manufactured" environment rather than a natural environment. In our manufactured environment we sustain evolutionary weak mutations, often rightly for good ethical reasons (for example, through modern medical care). As people multiply, the weak evolutionary mutations multiply. But, given that the manufactured environment can fail (for example, through global warming), modern humans may not be adapted well enough to survive in that natural environment. Animals, such as the chimps (or crocodiles), will have continually adapted to a changing natural environment and through natural selection will have greater potential to survive. Not that they will, but at least the possibility is better. If life forms cannot adapt, or they adapt in ways that do not increase potential, then the future for that species is not so bright .

Rohit, Washington DC,

True evolutionary change requires the creation of completely new genetic information to produce completely novel characteristics. This study merely looks at the existing genes in humans and chimps.
Therefore no evidence has been found that evolution has taken place. All that has really been shown is that humans and chimps may have different numbers of adaptive genes.
To infer from this data that true evolution has happened is to put it bluntly, unscientific. Changes in gene frequency in a population due to natural selection are not evolution in action. Only if it can be proved that at some point in the past a completely new gene was somehow formed, and that this has been selected for, and that this new gene has integrated into a population, could evolutionary change be proved.

D J Shires, Bournemouth,

These are very exciting conclusions. I particularly like the statement that "it is incorrect to assume that more intelligent species are 'more evolved'". However, the article is too vague to be of value. Its assumptions are, in fact, swathed in controversy, from the link to chimps, to the mechanics of evolution itself. Some background is needed. For example, it should have explained how exactly can we know that a gene was "positively" affected by evolution and what exactly is meant by "positive".

Vladislav Malik, Toronto, Canada, Ontraio

This is utter junk, complete nonsense, a waste of time and money and an insult to anyone who can think for themselves.

The comment of Chris from Wakefield contains more wisdom in a few lines than this whole study.

Crazy to think that so many people still believe in the crackpot THEORY of evolution.

a.chimpanzee, Inverness,

I was about to agree with you Phil, and then I re read Chris's comment. He does say that God himself said this, so what choice do I have than to blindly concur with his statement. How silly of you to think that evolution exists especially when you can buy the book with all the answers from any good bookstore.

With that thought I'm off to get me a few slaves and stone someone for wearing clothes made of two chords.

Nathan, Shrewsbury,

Sir In his book( In Six Days) Published in Australia by New Holland Publishers Mr John F Ashton PhD lists 50 scientists all PhD and above who believe Evolution is impossible. When their are so many qualified men like these (and thousand s more )who reject evolution why is it that we see so little of their thoughts published in your newspaper or website.Science to be science should be able to be proved .Yet leading scientist Prof Richard Dawkins has made this public statment. I cannot prove,that all life,all intelligence all creativity and all 'design'anywhere in the universe is the direct or indirect product of Darwinian natural selection.Giver the high standard and reputation your paper seeks to maintain,it is surprising you do not give the same space to those who do not believe the theory of evolution'but so often publish the theory as if it were fact in this it would seem that your paper has lost some integrity that it was once so loved for Yours

Thomas F Gunn, Inverness, Scotland

Bonobos spend all their time eating, sleeping and having sex. Sounds pretty advanced to me.

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

Its amazing to think that just one percent difference in our DNA can provide so many differences between our species.

Amy, Exeter, UK

whats so crazy about god think of the origins of evolution where did these atoms come which caused the big bang

safwaan , bolton,

''Chimps are ahead of humans in the great evolutionary race''
Is the title a joke or a comment on the 'evolution proponents' ?

Gabe, Dublin, Ireland

The day chimps eat humans as 'bush meat' is the day I'll believe that 'Chimps are ahead of humans in the great evolutionary race'.

Bill, London, Kentucky

I'd have to agree, amazing that their are still individuals who believe so unfailingly in creationism even though it has been widely rejected by those in the higher echelons of religious thinking.

Regardless, does the concept of natural selection even still relate to modern man, where we live in a world of social security, consumerism and charity, somewhere where there are no significant factors that prohibit ones ability to pass on their own genes.

Tyrone, London,

unsurprising considering our evolution is restricted by our concepts of beauty and monogamy

Andy, Chessington,

That Chris from Wakefield could make the above comment as if it were scientific fact is ridiculous; 'genetic change' and evolution are one and the same. Whom may I ask were the "millions of jews" able to actually trace thier lineage to Adam and Eve? Were they some kind of master race then, decended as they were from the 'master blueprint'? The statement: "God himself said that man may never know all the works that I have created" is theological fallacy in itself, God has never said anything, it has only been interpreted by various 'prophets'.
Utter nonsense like this, cobbled together from massive historical inaccuracies, creationist attempts to reconcile biblical fiction with pseudo-science and an ignorance of basic darwinian principles, will hopefully never be taught in a school my children attend.

Ed, Southampton, UK

Interesting that someone from Arizona in USA - home of Senator John McCain, one of the biggest proponents of Intelligent Design - should leave a comment on non-belief in evolution - I kid, I kid!

Leaving aside the nonsense that is creationism, which these articles always bringup in their comments section, I'm unsurprised by the findings of this study; after all humans are the only species that have evolved to adapt their surrounds to their needs, while chimps and other animals must constantly change to adapt to the environment around them - one that for centuries humans has been changing for their own needs. That being the case it would be surprising if most species didn't show signs of more adapatation than us.

Bob Powell, Tamworth, Staffordshire

That is because it is still a ' evolutionary theory' if you think it to be crazy that some of the leading scientists in the world are starting to see that these theories are not standing up and that the proof they have been looking for will never be found and that the rest of the scientific community are still trying to save face and also that the truth leans closer toward a superior intelligence to our own and that we may not be the most intellegent creatures in the universe, that a God in our eyes may well exist, governments who lay down the education system who teach ' evolutionary theory' in one lesson to our children then in the next that God created the heavens and the Earth. We are ungodly! Chimpanzes are closer to God than we will ever be, they can live in harmony with the Earth, they have truly adapted, HAVE YOU? Change comes and unless we adapt we will all die when the Earth warms and naturally humans will kill each other to survive! Will the chimps do this? I doubt it.

Another Crazy Person, London, England

Natural selection in humans is not so 'natural' when we choose our mates by what the media have told us is attractive. We no longer select mates by their physical abilities to rear children or protect the tribal group - but because of a funky haircut, spray on tan and 'stylish' clothing. Intelligence and physical health are being bred out of the human species - propagated by dumb televisual 'input', commercial food and medicines that allow the sickly to thrive. It wont be long before we are back to a chimp-like intelligence... well in evolutionary time that is!

Andrew, Grantham, UK

People are easily duped by scientists who want to believe that they are the most intelligent beings in the universe (think about it). Evidence versus faith? Reverse it. The "evidence" for evolution doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, but supports adaptation according to kind and not some transmutation into another kind. the belief that one species changes into another is an act of "faith" greater in fact than a belief in God because the evidence is simply not there. There is a scripture which says that the clues of creation are so abundant that it is "inexcusable" to deny it. Think about it: most of the planet could denying the exitance of their creator right in his face. I can think of no greater insult to a God which has produced superclusters of galxies that make us look very insignificant indeed. Ask any string theorist; many of them accept that there may be a God because of the beauty of our physical laws. But physical scientists often do.

Henry Starling, Liverpool, UK

Crazy to think that so many people believe in evolution simply because they respect scientists. I'm a physical scientist myself, but I'm ashamed of the theory of evolution. It is a classic example of seeing what you want to see out of the data. The "evidence" is not what is in question. There is ample evidence for adaptation among species, but it's the conclusion that one species changes into another that has no evidence whatsoever to back it up. This is as much a leap of faith as any religion. Darwin's finches always remained finches. There are many kinds of dog but they are all still dogs and always will be.

The evolutionists are well ware of the difficulties in their theory (e.g. massive gaps in the fossil record with no genuine "missing links") so they invent fancy sounding expressions such as "ounctuated equilibrium theory" to say that species suddenly burst into existence. This is because slow change over millions of years is no longer plausible.

Henry Starling, Liverpool, UK

more like powerful proof that some people are willfully ignorant. please stop ignoring all scientific evidence from numerous fields and labs from around the world. we didn't evolve? master blueprint? Jews tracing their ancestors back to adam and eve....exactly how do you know that? where are the publications on the research that shows your cutoff time of 70CE? it's not powerful proof if you don't have any proof to start with.

I think that this is excellent, and surprising, research. But it makes sense and lends more support to the idea of humans going through a population bottleneck. I would imagine that the genes with rapid positive selection were not directly involved in the physical differences that we see between our two species.

Mark, Barnet,

This article is written as if evolution is a fact!? Are there not a few very important missing links still to be found before one can be bold enough to claim this 'theory' to be fact?

Siân , Frankfurt, Germany

Chimps are making much more sense to me these days.

Mike, London, UK

Matt F in Lincoln: In your dreams mate.

This report doesn't surprise me, I have long said that the greed, vanity and violence of the human race means we are regressing in terms of evolutionary development. I doubt we will ever become a civilised species.

Jennifer Hynes, Plymouth, UK

It really makes me think how mental people exist in our society, im all for oppinions but talk about a rant, im glad someone decided to debunk all the science in this story with that adam and eve stuff, well done.... mental......

Warren, Manchester, UK

This study is flawed because inteligent speices will change their environment rather than letting the environment change them!

Kajan, London,

Chris from Wakefield - proof? What proof? Show me a single solitary shred of evidence that the Adam and Eve story is anything more than an attempt by an unscientific civilisation to make sense of their origins. I could easily write a book which says "This is the word of God". That in itself wouldn't proove that it was.

John, Reading,

I have often thought that the closer you are to the bottom the closer you are to God. Jesus himself used to berate the Jews about their understanding of "their" religion, so Big J wasn't a Jew, maybe he was closer to a chimp like me. The only place this falls down of course is that George W Bush looks exactly like a chimp. Does that make him closer to God for being close to the bottom or further from God for starting a needless war? I think we should be told. Can't they test George to see whether he is evolving up or down?

John, Dundee, UK

Yes we all know that evolution is actually the great flying invisible spaghetti monster morping us with his own hands just like Tony Hart did with those plasticine figures.

Chris, Glasgow,

This discovery may relate to the fact that humans do not evolve in the same way as Chimpanzees.

If a mutation in a Chimpanzee is not beneficial it will more likely die earlier and breed less meaning fewer mutations survive, not so with humans.

With medical advances the "survival of the fittest" no longer applies and more less beneficial mutations carry on into future generations.

Paul James, Birmingham, UK

Perhaps our higher intelligence has dampened evolutionary improvements because we have been able to think our way around our limitations rather than having to evolve to cope with them. Clearly, it's downhill from here.

Qenny, London, UK

I actually believe after walking down Cardiff highstreet and seeing the chavs, that we are evolving backwards.

Darwin, Cardiff, UK

No doubt. Crazy to think that some people in the developed world with access to information still believe in God as well

Gary, London,

This really shouldn't be that surprising. Since the advent of our intelligence human beings have lost a lot of evolutionary pressures for physical adaptation. Most of our physical form is poorly adapted to our environment, but we overcome this by (for instance) clothing ourselves, rather than having to evolve thick fur.

Chimpanzees have remained subject to these pressures, however, so it is unsurprising that they have evolved more.

And yes, it is important to remember that evolution is about adapting to the environment, not striving towards intelligence. Intelligence is an exceptionally rare solution to the problem of survival, and in most epochs of earth evolution it has not arisen at all.

J. Paul Dyson, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

This, presumably, explains why Man has been strolling on the surface of the Moon while chimps gambol among the trees.

don Marshall, Cadiz, Spain

This news does not surprise me. How the species which has invented Income Tax can claim to be the ultimate evolution, I'll never know!

Ade, Wallasey, UK

Crazy? Try insane. There is of course no reason why God shouldn't have created a universe in which evolution happens. US society has evolved and is evolving. It depends for its success on technology and on immigrants, who make up most of the graduates of US university faculties of science and engineering--places like Virginia Tech.

Societies evolve too. I hope America can get over its obsession with gun ownership.

Paul, London, UK

Not, Phil, so crazy when you think of who the non-believers are. We still have flat-earthists too!

clive , london, uk

evidence vs. faith! its an easy choice for me - i dont believe in fairy tales!

David, Belfast,

I don't think it is at all surprising that the results are the way they are. We don't need to evolve quickly because of an adaptive benefit in the environment, we adapt the environment to benefit us. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that the first 100 or so gene changes had occured in a similar time frame as for chimpanzees and since then there have been relatively fewer changes due to us changing our environment. Can you age gene changes? If not I think you should spend some research money on trying to do so!

Adrian Simmons, York, UK

Is this because of selective breeding? 'Strongest' Chimp breeds with many females passing on 'strong' genes. Unlike humans where we have 1 man 1 woman, stagnating the evolutionary process.

Matt F, Lincoln, UK

I have noticed myself that chimpanzees are more evolved.

Mark Thompson, nottingham, UK

That explains why humans are destroying their own habitat and that of chimps along the way.

george P., athens, greece

Scientists are still grappling with the complexities of God's creation. God himself said that man may never know all the works that I have created. Their is one genetic geneology overlooked, millions of jews could trace their ancestors back to adam and eve in 70CE before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, arch of titus still stands today. Powerful proof that we didnt evolve but are imperfect beings who have suffered genetic change. We have lost the master blueprint that was adam and eve. But interesting work non the less, give them as much money as they need to finish the work.

chris, Wakefield,

Crazy to think that some people still do not believe in evolution.

Phil Begay, Tuba City, AZ USA

If this is true how comechimps are not the ones in charge of the world, and why is it that we are on the top of the food chain.
Dont humans teach chimps how to do things so that means that they can not be ahead of humans. Well atleast this is my opinion but it seems highly unlikely that chimps are ahead of humans.

Brandon Redd, South Charleston , West Virginia

Where are the Bonobos in all of this?

I would hav ethought they were tehesecond most intelligent and yet they do not appear in the top ten.

Is there a valid explanation?

I feel their omission from the research makes it totally invalid.

DAvid Pybus, Hythe, Kent