Atacama Desert people found to have evolved greater tolerance of arsenic

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Chile has found that some people living in a part of the Atacama Desert have evolved over time for survival despite drinking water that contains 100 times the suggested maximum safe limit of arsenic as set by the World Health Organization. In their paper published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, the team describes a genetic study they conducted of the people in the area and what they found.