Prof Ian Tattersall said there were few examples to rival the accelerated evolution that led to our species.

BBC: Conflict and 'boom-bust' explain humans' rapid evolution

The brilliant UCLA scholar Jared Diamond has even opined, quite seriously, that what we are seeing is accelerated evolution.

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Researchers found that genes relating to sensory perception, hearing and brain development showed "accelerated evolution" in all three, but particularly in humans and gorillas.

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This phenomenon of accelerated evolution is known as "tachytely".

BBC: Conflict and 'boom-bust' explain humans' rapid evolution

Using big data, Google has vastly accelerated the evolution of speech recognition.

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