The South Fore people of Papua New Guinea used to eat their dead relatives' brains as a sign of respect, passing on the deadly prion disease kuru--a relative of mad cow disease--in the process. But long before the Fore stopped the tradition on the advice of scientists in the 1950s, evolution was already at work. Less than 200 years ago, according to New Scientist, a member of the Fore was born with a gene mutation that protected against kuru. They passed it to their children.
Because having the mutation helped you live longer (and, thus, have more children), it quickly spread through the Fore population. Today, several Fore families descended from people who took part in the brain-eating rituals owe their existence to the reality of evolution.
(Via Mind Hacks.)
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How nice of evolution to bring that to the Fore. Brains anyone? (The best part is from the Fore head.)
Zombie mutations in Papua New Guinea. I am Forewarned.
@Phikus
A for effort!
Speaking of mutations, Forewarned is four armed.
And now the onslaught of creationists pointing out that "this isn't evolution, they're still humans, not a new species" etc.
Hmm. IIRC the Fore only started eating brains in the 1950s, when they were facing food shortages - partly due to the loss of traditional livelihoods.
Oh...
So cannibalism is OK now?:-P
Kidding!
I'm sure it only means that the people with that mutation will try to hunt the rest of us to extinction. Nothing to worry about.
Not as I recall from anthropology classes in college, and New Sci seems to agree. My understanding is that they didn't eat brains or any other body part as a regular meal thing. It was a special thing that happened as ritual. When your family members died, you ate their brains, sort of as a way of honoring them and keeping a part of them "alive" in yourself.
IIRC, you might also eat the brain of someone you conquered in battle, to take his power into yourself. But I could be getting mixed up on that bit. That may have been a different group than the Fore.
The indigenous people of New Zealand - Maori - were composed of a number of different tribes around the country and there would be bloody battles. Cannibalism was practiced, and I am not entirely sure whether the objective was to consume the mana of the person (earned respect, power, authority), or to desecrate the body. Perhaps someone else could clarify that.
@ apoxia: New Zealand is a long, long way from New Guinea and the Maori have no pre-European genetic or cultural link to the Fore, so what they thought and did isn't really relevant.
However: Maori cannibalism was largely a practical affair, and wasn't particularly respectful. Eating a defeated rival was an additional humiliation for the eaten, and there wasn't much bullshit about mana or whatever.
Thing is, at the time of the arrival of the Europeans Maori society was in a slightly parlous state. New Zealand has no -- repeat, no -- native mammals (except for a small bat that miraculously blew over from Australia) and the original Maori settlers ate the only decent size food animal, the moa, into extinction within a few years of their arrival. There isn't even much in the way of native food plants. Eating people made a welcome change to an otherwise inadequate diet. Eating brains? No big deal, cuzzie.
Good things about pre-European Maori society include the brilliant carving and decorative arts and orally-transmitted mythology. Bad things were the stratified social order, the cult of the warrior and the use of slaves for labor and, occasionally, food. It wasn't exactly a South Seas paradise down here.
Well, folks, it "wasn't exactly a South Seas paradise" down there but it sure as hell was THEIRS.
If people would just mind their own business and leave other peoples alone, the world would be better off.
Societies who handle their own difficulties do it well or not. It's THEIR prerogative, or *should* be.