Stickleback

A few days ago I pointed to a paper which suggests the possible utility of looking at selection on standing genetic variation on quantitative traits to get a sense of the role of adaptation in the human genome. We humans like to think we're a complex species, so I see no a priori reason why our evolutionary history should be easily reducible to spare compact dynamics. Granted, we can start with the assumption that on the order of 50,000 years before the present there was a rapid demographic expansion of anatomically modern humans out of the continent of Africa. This story is simple, and is…