WE ARE ALL DESIGNISTS NOW:

Since Darwin, we have considered our bodies to be an outcome of natural selection. But recent anthropological theories suggest that our own technology, even the most primitive, may have affected our own evolution, right down to our shape. [...]

"I believe the transformative moment that gave rise to the genus Homo, one of the great transitions in the history of life, stemmed from the control of fire and the advent of cooked meals," writes anthropologist Richard Wrangham in his book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.

Cooking increased the amount of energy derived from food while making it softer and easier to chew, he says. This was reflected in bodily changes--smaller guts, narrow pelvises, and ribs that didn't flare out. An abundant fuel supply also helped to maintain our glucose-hungry brains, which required a lot of energy. "Brains are one of the most expensive organs in the body," he says. Our brain uses 20 percent of our energy although it represents only 2 percent of our body weight. 

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