Includes bibliographical references (pages [285]-352) and index.

What would Darwin write today? -- Symptoms of real-time evolution. Is autism a harbinger of our changing brains? ; The DarWa theory revisited ... and a glimpse at a new theory ; Twenty generations to domesticate humans ; Violence and the lack thereof ; Allergies : another harbinger of our evolving bodies? ; Our unnatural "all-natural" world ; Fat humans, fat animals : another symptom? ; Brave new sex -- How does evolution really work now? The nature versus nurture wars ; Missing heredity, mysterious toxins ; Transgenerational inheritance : aka, "voodoo biology" ; WWIV : nuking our microbes ; The "yucky" stuff inside you ; Autism revisited : three potential drivers ; Viruses : the roadrunners of evolution ; A perfectly modern pregnancy ; Bringing it all together : DESTINY is propelling evolution -- A world of nonrandom mutation. Playing with the building blocks of life ; Humans hijacking viruses ; Editing life on a grand scale ; Unnatural acts, designer babies, and sex 2.0 ; Boyden brains -- Evolving ourselves ... Better living through chemistry? ; Forever young, beautiful, and fearless? ; Unnatural attraction ; Sports quandaries and beyond ; Designer organs and cloned humans ; Evolving brains revisited ; The robot-computer-human interface ; Perhaps an ethical question or two? ; Technically life, technically death ; Trust whom? -- The future of life. I don't remember you ... de-extinction ; Humanity's really short story ; Evolving hominins ; Synthetic life ; HUmans and hubris : does nature win in the end? ; Leaving Earth? -- Epilogue. New evolutionary times -- Appendix. Darwin-- true or false : did he get it right?

In Evolving Ourselves, futurist Juan Enriquez and scientist Steve Gullans conduct a sweeping tour of how humans are changing the course of evolution--sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. For example: Globally, rates of obesity in humans nearly doubled between 1980 and 2014. What's more, there's evidence that other species, from pasture-fed horses to lab animals to house cats, are also getting fatter. As reported by U.S. government agencies, the rate of autism rose by 131 percent from 2001 to 2010, an increase that cannot be attributed simply to increases in diagnosis rates. Three hundred years ago, almost no one with a serious nut allergy lived long enough to reproduce. Today, despite an environment in which food allergies have increased by 50 percent in just over a decade, 17 million Americans who suffer from food allergies survive, thrive, and pass their genes and behaviors on to the next generation. In the pre-Twinkie era, early humans had quite healthy mouths. As we began cooking, bathing, and using antibiotics, the bacteria in our bodies changed dramatically and became far less diverse. Today the consequences are evident not only in our teeth but throughout our bodies and minds.--

Though these harbingers of change are deeply unsettling, the authors argue that we are also in an epoch of tremendous opportunity. New advances in biotechnology help us mitigate the cruel forces of natural selection, from saving prematurely born babies to gene therapies for sickle cell anemia and other conditions. As technology enables us to take control of our genes, we will be able to alter our own species and many others--a good thing, given that our eventual survival will require space travel and colonization, enabled by a fundamental redesign of our bodies. Future humans could become great caretakers of the planet, as well as a more diverse, more resilient, gentler, and more intelligent species--but only if we make the right choices now.--