Upstream | May 21, 2009 | 19 comments

Men on road to extinction

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/5360172/Men-on-road-to-e...

Image
slagface
The researcher in human sex chromosomes said the male Y chromosome was dying and could run out within the next five million years.

But Professor Graves said men may follow the path of a type of rodent which still manages to reproduce despite not having the vital genes that make up the Y chromosome.

She told medical students at the annual outreach public lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) in Ireland a second species of human beings could even be born in the future.

"You need a Y chromosome to be male," said Prof Graves.

"Three hundred million years ago the Y chromosome had about 1,400 genes on it, and now it's only got 45 left, so at this rate we're going to run out of genes on the Y chromosome in about five million years.

"The Y chromosome is dying and the big question is what happens then."
  1. groups:
    Community,   Culture,   Upstream,   Science,   4 more
  2. tags:
    News,  Culture,  Health,  Science,  4 more
  3.     
    |

19 comments // Men on road to extinction

  • Humdrum
    • 0
      Humdrum  

    • Haven't we kind of taken ourselves out of the Cycle of Things this last century or so? We've been doing it little by little ever since we started growing our own food and shaping our environment to fit our needs. Sure, birds/ ants/ etc. do it all the time, but they live *as* pure nature/ the environment, not apart from it. They aren't at odds with it in the least, which is why they are ruled by it.

      Imo, barring civilization-ending scenarios, whatever evolutionary changes we go through as a species in the next few million years, it will most likely be our doing well before our environment's. You know - societal norms and the like do affect breeding habits, blah blah blah. But we breed and breed and breed, no matter how ill-equipped the least of us are to do so. In our world, those that are the least worthy of survival, for whatever reason society dictates, will still survive. We breed and survive in a world we've created, one with far different evolutionary rules than pure nature.

      Relating us as a species in the 21st century to us as a species in the 21st century BC is subtle folly.

      *ps
      If that was unintelligible, I blame mother nature.

    • 3 years ago
  • twitterbot
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • In the highly unlikely event that our species survives even the next 5 THOUSAND years, I wonder if there will gradually be fewer and fewer men for every 100 women. Will that result in an increasing tendency toward polygamy, perhaps? Or will women become increasingly open to same-sex relationships? Both? Neither? Given 5 MILLION years notice, I have to think humans will find a way to stop or even reverse this process -- if they choose to do so. My wife tells me that it would be sad to see men go if for no other reason than that they are entertaining to watch.

    • 3 years ago
  • thorstein
  • NuclearLullaby
  • twitterbot
    • 0
      twitterbot  

    • @Laroquod on twitter says "Um no, the Y chromosome is not going to entirely disappear, because that final mutation CAN'T SPREAD. Duh."

    • 3 years ago
  • echoz
    • 0
      echoz  
    • twitterbot:

      LOL =D yeah, and for all that LOSER suggestive feminist shit in such bogus "equality" and "equal" rights ideas such as could be argued to be found in a statements like "men on road to extinction," it's ironic to note the superb stupidity of such utter bullshit when you realize that if indeed men were to go, as natural procreation and plain common sense dictates, women aren't far behind either lol--unless they really grow a pair to screw themselves like some feminist whacks fantasize I'm sure =P but maybe we men should just start harvesting and cloning their wasted eggs every month as a good reason to be preparing for their own "inevitable" fuqn extinction! =)~

    • 3 years ago
  • bajams
  • hydrokat
  • s_peak
  • echoz
    • 0
      echoz  

    • the big question?? heh. total bullshit, and a worthless fuqn post, and all because some blindly-esteemed "researcher" said...lol =P

      Shall we call his hotline and find out what he thinks the weather will be like next week too? =P lol

    • 3 years ago
  • mattbrawn
    • 0
      mattbrawn  

    • Your story has been included in tonight's [21/05/09] episode of 'Upstream' which airs at 7pm and 'Webmash' which airs at 8pm GMT Sky 183 / Virgin 155.

      Tell your friends, you're gonna be famous!

    • 3 years ago
  • JcX
  • bubbeemonkey
  • darthophage
  • bubbeemonkey
  • bubbeemonkey
  • bubbeemonkey
    • 0
      bubbeemonkey  

    • A second species could be born you say? This could cause war much like in Xmen and we would be forced to live underground much like in Futurama.

      The way I've written it makes it sound cool. But really if there was a war and we did have to live underground that would be bad. Still cartoon's make these things fun.

    • 3 years ago
  • mattbrawn
more from Upstream:
from the community

top videos