Final answer:
Biological evolution in humans is an ongoing process influenced by new selective pressures, including those from malaria and AIDS, and potentially moderated by medical advances (d. Both b and c). Adaptations continue to occur as humans navigate the changing environment and health landscape.
Step-by-step explanation:
The answer to the question posed based on the article by Balter (2005) is d. Both b and c. This is because biological evolution in humans is not static; it continues to occur, albeit potentially at a different rate than in the past. Medical advances may have altered the natural selection pressures by reducing the impact of certain diseases and health issues that would otherwise affect evolutionary change, which could lead to a slower evolution rate as mentioned in point b. However, our species is also subject to new selection pressures resulting from contemporary challenges such as malaria and AIDS, which suggest ongoing evolution as stated in point c.
Furthermore, the development of agriculture, urbanization, and current global health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic have also introduced new selective pressures that continue to shape human evolution. The concept of evolutionary health allows us to understand how lifestyle changes over the past ten thousand years have affected human populations differently, resulting in a variety of physiological adaptations and genetic changes.
In the context of evolutionary medicine, the study of the impacts of diseases such as sickle-cell anemia in malaria prevalent regions highlights the accountability of natural selection in shaping human genetic variability. As some humans possess genetic mutations that offer resistance to diseases such as malaria, these genes are naturally selected for in those environments, contributing to ongoing human evolution.