Posted on 05/22/2015 7:17:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Sci-Fi movies present no shortage of doomsday scenarios--asteroids, climate change and supervolcanoes just to name a few. But let’s say that one of these situations actually occurs, and humans are annihilated with the exception of one male and one female. Could humanity survive?
The answer is a resounding...maybe, with the only certainty being that the surviving couple is going to be very, very busy.
Variations on this scenario occur now and again in nature. They’re called bottlenecks, and they include any event that causes a drastic reduction in a population--think overhunting and natural disasters.
Certain species, like dandelions, are great at bouncing back from bottlenecks. Mow them down, and they’ll be back before you know it. “One dandelion seed in your yard produces thousands of dandelion seeds that are each genetically identical and spread exponentially,” explains Nolan Kane, a genomics professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. But humans are not dandelions; we require another human and about nine months to reproduce.
In bottleneck situations, Kane says limited options can cause serious problems. It’s called the founder effect. When a small group gets isolated from the general population, obscure and often harmful traits become common because the so-called founder population limits possible genetic combinations. We already see this in isolated populations such as the Amish of Pennsylvania, where high incidence of polydactyly (extra fingers or toes) is common. Similarly, on the Pacific island of Pingelap, as much as five percent of the population is colorblind.
So, if the sole surviving male has genetic Celiac disease, which prevents him from being able to eat gluten, it’s safe to assume that much of the new human race would be on a no-carb diet. Other heritable diseases such as sickle cell anemia could potentially ravage the new population.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
Fascinating.
Have at it Laz
Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Ambassador de Sadesky: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
I’ll do my best, but the kids are going to have to figure out step 2 on their own.
With 2 people its pretty unlikely without divine intervention. the odds increase a lot with every doubling of the number of people.
I know that for populating an alien planet, theorists say that around 40,000 is ideal.
Not anymore.
No more than two poodles can repopulate the earth with wolves.
The original two? Yes.
A few differences between now and Genesis:
They lived much longer and were fertile much longer.
Disease and genetic weakness was not yet present.
Today the couple would have to live in a very moderate, if not sub-tropical climate, or they couldn’t endure the workload.
RE: I’ll do my best, but the kids are going to have to figure out step 2 on their own.
How did Cain do it?
Yes, but assuming there was an original two, those two were, like Mary Poppins, ‘practically perfect in every way’.
They had maximum genetic diversity and absolutely no genetic defects to pass down, unlike any pair alive today.
And even then, one of their sons was a murderer...
Lets not forget. Adam and Eve had very long lives.
**How did Cain do it?**
How? Based on the evidence pretty much like we do today:
Genesis 4:17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.
RE: Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.
Sure, but I guess he had to make love to his sister or his niece.
“aha, the Garden of Eden was in West Virginia” punchline coming in 3....2....1.....
No, it means they would be on a no-gluten diet. What an ignorant comment.
My grandpa was always fond of saying that it doesn't hurt a cow to have a calf every year.
I was about to point out how stupid the genomics professor was for not knowing that the chromosomes from the pollen and ova mix and that this would mean that each seed was different. But before I posted I found out that almost all dandelions in North America are asexual and reproduce through parthenogenesis. This counts as the something new I learned today - dandelions aren't heterosexual.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.