Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

CAN TWO PEOPLE REPOPULATE EARTH?
Popular Science ^ | 05/21/2015 | Morgan Kinney

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 ...


TOPICS: Science; Society
KEYWORDS: population; repopulation
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last
To: SeekAndFind

“CAN TWO PEOPLE REPOPULATE EARTH?”

Only if all of the lawyers are dead.


21 posted on 05/22/2015 8:09:39 AM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind; Gamecock
Sure, but I guess he had to make love to his sister or his niece.

He did, but at that time, God had not declared that to be sin. God allowed it in the early stages of humanity with Adam's early descendents.

22 posted on 05/22/2015 8:25:27 AM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: KarlInOhio
"...dandelions aren't heterosexual...."

Wow, what sickos!

And yeah, I also learned something new today, so cool.

23 posted on 05/22/2015 8:35:48 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I have read the work of a credible geneticist where he said at the end of the last Ice Age there were fewer than 8000 homo sapiens left on the earth. I believe that is supportable science. Statistically that small number could repopulate the earth. Intelligence is the deciding factor and almost always will prevail.


24 posted on 05/22/2015 8:50:22 AM PDT by Rapscallion (Obama: All the news that's fit to control and manage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Would be interesting to know how genetically divergent two people could be and still be unquestionably “human”, providing enough genetic diversity to avoid ill effects thru the first few generations.

A friend has 15 kids (and runs a family farm, and runs a retail business, and ...). Optimistically keep that up, and 2 become 5000+ in just 4 generations.
Of course, that requires a great survival infrastructure which, under the indicated circumstances, one may not plan on.


25 posted on 05/22/2015 8:51:55 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Hillary:polarizing/calculating/disingenuous/insincere/ambitious/inevitable/entitled/overconfident/se)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot; SeekAndFind; Gamecock

Sufficient genetic difference between parents would make that viable. Presumably Adam and Eve were as genetically different as conceivably possible and still be “human”.


26 posted on 05/22/2015 8:53:53 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Hillary:polarizing/calculating/disingenuous/insincere/ambitious/inevitable/entitled/overconfident/se)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

No, 2 “people” can not repopulate the erf. A man and a woman can, though. Point being... the entire meaning of life... to sustain the species... there is a reason homosexuality is laughable, at the least.


27 posted on 05/22/2015 9:09:47 AM PDT by Rodamala
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rapscallion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory


28 posted on 05/22/2015 9:44:11 AM PDT by rednesss (fascism is the union,marriage,merger or fusion of corporate economic power with governmental power)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

If I were the last man on earth stuck with Lena Dunham...Sorry folks. That’s the end of us puny humans.


29 posted on 05/22/2015 10:16:19 AM PDT by Organic Panic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

LOL!


30 posted on 05/22/2015 10:54:06 AM PDT by Gamecock (Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He volunteered. R.C. Sproul)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Given the available resources - wood and metal in particular - repopulating the world after a catastrophe that wiped out people but left the infrastructure might be comparatively smooth. I think it would be easy to produce ten or more surviving children per couple in each generation, if the new Adam and Even had not gotten themselves snipped. That gives generations of:

1 - 10
2 - 50
3 - 250
4 - 1250
5 - 6,250
6 - 31,250
7 - 156,250
8 - 781,250
9 - 3,906,250
10 - 19,531,250

Essentially, after ten generations or about 300 years, the population would again pass 20 million. Genetic inbreeding issues would produce some unfortunate results, but I would expect natural selection (and informed marital choices by those prone to certain conditions) to limit the rate for those problems.


31 posted on 05/22/2015 11:29:29 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: justlurking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzddAYYDZkk

“They would breed prodigiously, eh? There would be much time and little to do . . .”


32 posted on 05/22/2015 11:38:26 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I'd say the Duggars have answered the question in more ways than one.
33 posted on 05/22/2015 11:39:50 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2

“Presumably Adam and Eve were as genetically different as conceivably possible...”

How different could they have been since she was made from his rib?


34 posted on 05/22/2015 1:05:37 PM PDT by jocon307
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: jocon307

Ya got me there.
Explains why humans are so dumb.


35 posted on 05/22/2015 1:12:15 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (Hillary:polarizing/calculating/disingenuous/insincere/ambitious/inevitable/entitled/overconfident/se)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Pollster1

Prolific breeding is one thing.
Keeping all that progeny alive & viable is quite another.


36 posted on 05/22/2015 1:13:01 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (Hillary:polarizing/calculating/disingenuous/insincere/ambitious/inevitable/entitled/overconfident/se)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson