How Humans Have Changed in 100 Years

[Hans Tucker]

I had thought that humans increase in height had plateaued and had actually started to trend to humans getting shorter...but hey...here you go.

http://www.livescience.com/46894-how-humans-changed-in-100-years.html

[xelasnave]

:eyepop:I have been here for 67 of those 100 years and have not changed even a little
:D

[blink138]

hmmmm... i think hans just from personal observation we are becoming a lot taller
tall people generally seek out other tall people, especially girls as they do not generally want a shorter man
and since every child is at least taller than at least one of their parents, surely we must be getting more lofty?
food has a lot to do with it mostly........... there was a very interesting doco many years ago about the average "tommy" (british soldier) were a good few inches shorter than a yank or an aussie during ww2 as these countries were "lands of plenty"..... meat really!!
pat
pat

[Larryp]

I remember reading a "National Geographic" article about some excavation at the site of the battle of Little Bighorn in the USA.
They remarked that skeletons of soldiers unearthed were around the 5' 6" mark, which was the average white male height at the time.
Certainly the average white male height is much more nowadays.

[multiweb]

There are a lot of Roman ruins in south of France and Northern Italy. As a kid I remember visiting some of the tombs. Roman soldiers were buried with their gear and weapons. They were tiny and short skeletons . Well under 5 foot. Like us little kids. Their swords were more like a big kitchen knife. LOL.

[xelasnave]

You do no justice to their swords..the gladius..the best close range weapon of all time
Not to short not too long ..just right to peirse the heart and not get stuck
When slashing one finds the sweet spot the same as that on a tennis racket making the perfect shot
This sword cut through 80000 rebellious Britons in most efficient in an afternoon
It was the perfect killing weapon although it really needed to be useIs with a shield

[el_draco]

Very interesting topic. In Tassie there are a lot of convict era buildings still standing. One of the most interesting is a little museum at Eaglehawk Neck on the Tasman peninsula. The building is quite long and sections were added over a 100 + year period. The first door is about 5 foot high and successive doors get higher as the age of extension decreases. At 6'1" ish, I'd have been classed as a monster a century ago. You can see the same effect in some other buildings including thhe old Colony Inn in New Norfolk and the Red Feather Inn near Launceston.

As for longevity, the news aint so great. I recently heard that the current generation in the U.S. will not live as long as their parents, in part due to the toxic environment, toxic food and toxic lifestyle. Food for thought... no pun intended.

[BPO]

Yes, definitely getting older and fatter, but taller? Nope. I always used to have to duck to pass under a standard doorframe, but not so much anymore...

My guess is it's a gravitational increase caused by rampant obesity. Either that, or the doorframe height standard has been revised upwards.