Generation Y?

Evolution is a funny thing.

As a geek I tend to like Sci-fi TV shows and films. So shows like Heroes and movies like the X-Men series tend to tick my boxes (so to speak) as well as prompt an interest into the science behind them.
So, (Jesse voice) this week I have been mostly reading about evolution.

We've been taught in school (except perhaps in the more religious schools) about Darwin's theory of evolution and how our species evolved from the primates into homo-sapiens...but that was a while ago...what's next for us as a species?

Evolution as I understand it is about a species adapting and evolving based on their environment and the challenges it brings. The environment for us as a species has changed very little (for the things that will really affect us) in the last thousand years or so and apart from having to dodge traffic whilst crossing the road, there aren't a huge number of environmental challenges for us to evolve for.
And with an increasingly mobile global population, genetic diversification is becoming a rarity.

Our use of technology has also shaped our evolution, reduced it in fact.
We have used our knowledge of technology and tools to achieve things that were never possible before - and by doing so, removed our need for evolution to achieve the same goal. So are we in fact stagnating in terms of evolution?

Some might argue that we aren't and that in fact evolution is taking an almost hidden road forwards. For example in the case of disease resistance. There are cases of people in Africa who are naturally immune to the HIV virus. These types of people are the "fittest" from the classic Herbert Spencer quote "Survival of the fittest".
We will hopefully see more of these beneficial genetic abnormalities in the future, but just don't expect anyone to be able to blink really hard and stop time...not yet anyway.