Most of the harmful mutations in people arose in the past 5,000
to 10,000 years  December 4, 2012  (Credit: stock image)  The
human genome has been busy over the past 5,000 years. Human
populations have grown exponentially, and new genetic mutations
arise with each generation, says Nature News.      Cumulative
proportion of single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) for a given
allele age. The inset highlights the cumulative proportion of
SNVs that are estimated to have arisen in the last 50,000 years.
The x axis denotes allele age (x 1,000) and the y axis indicates
the the cumulative proportion of SNVs (%). EA: European
Americans; AA: African Americans. (Credit: Wenqing Fu et
al./Nature)