CAN TWO PEOPLE REPOPULATE EARTH?

Popular Science ^ | 05/21/2015 | Morgan Kinney

[RIghtwardHo]

Fascinating.

[Responsibility2nd]

Have at it Laz

[Dr. Sivana]

Other heritable diseases such as sickle cell anemia could potentially ravage the new population.

However, the milder versions of sickle cell anemia could be an advantage in areas with high rates of malaria.

[justlurking]

General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?

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)

[a fool in paradise]

Bill Gates is counting on it.

[VanDeKoik]

I’ll do my best, but the kids are going to have to figure out step 2 on their own.

[cripplecreek]

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.

[MrB]

Not anymore.
No more than two poodles can repopulate the earth with wolves.

The original two? Yes.

[G Larry]

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.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

[SeekAndFind]

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?

[null and void]

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...

[cripplecreek]

Lets not forget. Adam and Eve had very long lives.

[Gamecock]

**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.

[SeekAndFind]

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.

[Buckeye McFrog]

“aha, the Garden of Eden was in West Virginia” punchline coming in 3....2....1.....

[ElkGroveDan]

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

No, it means they would be on a no-gluten diet. What an ignorant comment.

[Vigilanteman]

We don't know for sure how long Eve lived, but doesn't the book of Genesis say Adam lived to 930. Assuming Eve lived about the same length of time and, as most women are, fecund for about half her life, that makes many opportunities for reproduction.

My grandpa was always fond of saying that it doesn't hurt a cow to have a calf every year.

[KarlInOhio]

“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.

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.