From Frontiers in Physiology and the “why Kenyan Olympic runners from hot Africa beat the cold Norwegians” department comes this ludicrous claim.
We may have reached our maximum limits for height, lifespan and physical performance; environmental changes, including climate change, could see these decrease.
Humans may have reached their maximum limits for height, lifespan and physical performance. A recent review suggests humans have biological limitations, and that anthropogenic impacts on the environment – including climate change – could have a deleterious effect on these limits. Published in Frontiers in Physiology, this review is the first of its kind spanning 120 years worth of historical information, while considering the effects of both genetic and environmental parameters.
Despite stories that with each generation we will live longer and longer, this review suggests there may be a maximum threshold to our biological limits that we cannot exceed.
A transdisciplinary research team from across France studied trends emerging from historical records, concluding that there appears to be a plateau in the maximum biological limits for humans’ height, age and physical abilities.
“These traits no longer increase, despite further continuous nutritional, medical, and scientific progress. This suggests that modern societies have allowed our species to reach its limits. We are the first generation to become aware of this” explains Professor Jean-François Toussaint from Paris Descartes University, France.
Rather than continually improving, we will see a shift in the proportion of the population reaching the previously recorded maximum limits. Examples of the effects of these plateaus will be evidenced with increasingly less sport records being broken and more people reaching but not exceeding the present highest life expectancy.
However, when researchers considered how environmental and genetic limitations combined may affect the ability for us to reach these upper limits, our effect on the environment was found to play a key role.
“This will be one of the biggest challenges of this century as the added pressure from anthropogenic activities will be responsible for damaging effects on human health and the environment.” Prof. Toussaint predicts. “The current declines in human capacities we can see today are a sign that environmental changes, including climate, are already contributing to the increasing constraints we now have to consider.”
“Observing decreasing tendencies may provide an early signal that something has changed but not for the better. Human height has decreased in the last decade in some African countries; this suggests some societies are no longer able to provide sufficient nutrition for each of their children and maintain the health of their younger inhabitants,” Prof. Toussaint explains.
To avoid us being the cause of our own decline, the researchers hope their findings will encourage policymakers to focus on strategies for increasing quality of life and maximize the proportion of the population that can reach these maximum biological limits.
“Now that we know the limits of the human species, this can act as a clear goal for nations to ensure that human capacities reach their highest possible values for most of the population. With escalating environmental constraints, this may cost increasingly more energy and investment in order to balance the rising ecosystem pressures. However, if successful, we then should observe an incremental rise in mean values of height, lifespan and most human biomarkers.” Prof. Toussaint warns however, “The utmost challenge is now to maintain these indices at high levels.”
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Interesting:-). But a cold Norwegian has now in fact beaten a bunch of hot Africans, and will probably do it many more times: http://www.letsrun.com/news/2017/12/norways-sondre-moen-makes-history-smashes-european-record-marathon-win-fukuoka-20548/
Arve
Moen’s run is noted and appreciated. Not yet added to the list below at 6 December 2017.
I can barely get to the pub in 2-05-48, even downhill.
At 59 Hall’s was, as noted in your link, downhill and wind aided.
But look at the world’s best performances: –
from – http://www.alltime-athletics.com/mmaraok.htm just now: –
All-time men’s best marathon
Rank Time Name Nationality Date of Birth ddmmyy Result in the race Location Date of run
1 2:02:57 Dennis Kimetto KEN 22.04.84 1 Berlin 28.09.2014
2 2:03:02a Geoffrey Mutai KEN 07.10.81 1 Boston 18.04.2011
3 2:03:03 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Berlin 25.09.2016
4 2:03:05 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 London 24.04.2016
5 2:03:06a Moses Mosop KEN 17.07.85 2 Boston 18.04.2011
6 2:03:13 Emmanuel Mutai KEN 12.10.84 2 Berlin 28.09.2014
6 2:03:13 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 2 Berlin 25.09.2016
8 2:03:23 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 1 Berlin 29.09.2013
9 2:03:32 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Berlin 24.09.2017
10 2:03:38 Patrick Makau KEN 02.03.85 1 Berlin 25.09.2011
11 2:03:42 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 1 Frankfurt 30.10.2011
12 2:03:45 Dennis Kimetto KEN 22.04.84 1 Chicago 13.10.2013
13 2:03:46 Guye Adola ETH 20.10.90 2 Berlin 24.09.2017
14 2:03:51 Stanley Biwott KEN 21.04.86 2 London 24.04.2016
15 2:03:52 Emmanuel Mutai KEN 12.10.84 2 Chicago 13.10.2013
16 2:03:58 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 1 Tokyo 26.02.2017
17 2:03:59 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Berlin 28.09.2008
18 2:04:00 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Berlin 27.09.2015
19 2:04:05 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 2 Berlin 29.09.2013
20 2:04:11 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Chicago 12.10.2014
20 2:04:11 Tamirat Tola ETH 11.08.91 1 Dubai 20.01.2017
22 2:04:15 Geoffrey Mutai KEN 07.10.81 1 Berlin 30.09.2012
23 2:04:16 Dennis Kimetto KEN 22.04.84 2 Berlin 30.09.2012
24 2:04:23 Ayele Abshero ETH 28.12.90 1 Dubai 27.01.2012
25 2:04:24 Tesfaye Abera ETH 31.03.92 1 Dubai 22.01.2016
26 2:04:26 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Berlin 30.09.2007
27 2:04:27 Duncan Kipkemboi Kibet KEN 25.04.78 1 Rotterdam 05.04.2009
27 2:04:27 James Kipsang Kwambai KEN 28.02.83 2 Rotterdam 05.04.2009
29 2:04:28 Sammy Kirop Kitwara KEN 26.11.86 2 Chicago 12.10.2014
30 2:04:29 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 1 London 13.04.2014
31 2:04:32 Tsegaye Mekonnen ETH 15.06.95 1 Dubai 24.01.2014
31 2:04:32 Dickson Chumba KEN 27.10.86 3 Chicago 12.10.2014
33 2:04:33 Lemi Berhanu ETH 13.09.94 2 Dubai 22.01.2016
34 2:04:38 Tsegay Kebede ETH 15.01.87 1 Chicago 07.10.2012
35 2:04:40 Emmanuel Mutai KEN 12.10.84 1 London 17.04.2011
36 2:04:42 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 London 26.04.2015
37 2:04:44 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 1 London 22.04.2012
38 2:04:45 Lelisa Desisa Benti ETH 14.01.90 1 Dubai 25.01.2013
39 2:04:46 Tsegaye Mekonnen ETH 15.06.95 3 Dubai 22.01.2016
40 2:04:47 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 2 London 26.04.2015
41 2:04:48 Patrick Makau KEN 02.03.85 1 Rotterdam 11.04.2010
41 2:04:48 Yemane Adhane ETH 08.04.85 1 Rotterdam 15.04.2012
41 2:04:48 Berhanu Shiferaw ETH 31.05.93 2 Dubai 25.01.2013
44 2:04:49 Tadesse Tola ETH 31.10.87 3 Dubai 25.01.2013
45 2:04:50 Dino Sefer ETH 28.05.88 2 Dubai 27.01.2012
45 2:04:50 Getu Feleke ETH 28.11.86 2 Rotterdam 15.04.2012
47 2:04:52 Feyisa Lelisa ETH 01.02.90 2 Chicago 07.10.2012
47 2:04:52 Endeshaw Negesse ETH 18.03.88 4 Dubai 25.01.2013
49 2:04:53 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Dubai 18.01.2008
49 2:04:53a Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam ETH 10.09.84 3 Boston 18.04.2011
49 2:04:53 Bernard Koech KEN 31.01.88 5 Dubai 25.01.2013
52 2:04:54 Markos Geneti ETH 30.05.84 3 Dubai 27.01.2012
53 2:04:55 Paul Tergat KEN 17.06.69 1 Berlin 28.09.2003
53 2:04:55 Geoffrey Mutai KEN 07.10.81 2 Rotterdam 11.04.2010
53 2:04:55 Stanley Biwott KEN 21.04.86 2 London 13.04.2014
56 2:04:56 Sammy Korir KEN 12.12.71 2 Berlin 28.09.2003
56 2:04:56 Jonathan Maiyo KEN 05.05.88 4 Dubai 27.01.2012
58 2:04:57 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich KEN 15.03.82 1 Frankfurt 31.10.2010
59 2:04:58a Ryan Hall USA 14.10.82 4 Boston 18.04.2011
60 2:05:00 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Rotterdam 13.04.2014
61 2:05:03 Moses Mosop KEN 17.07.85 3 Rotterdam 15.04.2012
62 2:05:04 Abel Kirui KEN 04.06.82 3 Rotterdam 05.04.2009
62 2:05:04 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Paris 06.04.2014
64 2:05:06 Geoffrey Mutai KEN 07.10.81 1 New York City 06.11.2011
65 2:05:08 Patrick Makau KEN 02.03.85 1 Berlin 26.09.2010
66 2:05:09 Lawrence Cherono KEN 07.08.88 1 Amsterdam 15.10.2017
67 2:05:10 Samuel Wanjiru KEN 10.11.86 1 London 26.04.2009
67 2:05:10 Geoffrey Mutai KEN 07.10.81 2 Berlin 26.09.2010
67 2:05:10 Tadesse Tola ETH 31.10.87 5 Dubai 27.01.2012
70 2:05:12 Stanley Biwott KEN 21.04.86 1 Paris 15.04.2012
71 2:05:13 Vincent Kipruto KEN 13.09.87 3 Rotterdam 11.04.2010
71 2:05:13 Markos Geneti ETH 30.05.84 2 Dubai 24.01.2014
71 2:05:13 Wilson Loyanai KEN 20.11.88 1 Seoul 20.03.2016
71 2:05:13 Nobert Kigen KEN 24.10.93 2 Amsterdam 15.10.2017
75 2:05:15 Martin Lel KEN 29.10.78 1 London 13.04.2008
76 2:05:16 Levi Matebo KEN 03.11.89 2 Frankfurt 30.10.2011
76 2:05:16 Sammy Kirop Kitwara KEN 26.11.86 3 Chicago 13.10.2013
76 2:05:16 Sisay Lemma ETH 12.12.90 4 Dubai 22.01.2016
79 2:05:18 Tsegay Kebede ETH 15.01.87 1 Fukuoka 06.12.2009
80 2:05:19 Tsegay Kebede ETH 15.01.87 1 London 25.04.2010
81 2:05:20 Tsegay Kebede ETH 15.01.87 2 London 26.04.2009
82 2:05:21 Eliud Kiptanui KEN 06.06.89 2 Berlin 27.09.2015
82 2:05:21 Daniel Wanjiru KEN 25.05.92 1 Amsterdam 16.10.2016
84 2:05:23 Feyisa Lelisa ETH 01.02.90 4 Rotterdam 11.04.2010
85 2:05:24 Samuel Wanjiru KEN 10.11.86 2 London 13.04.2008
86 2:05:25 Bado Worku ETH 22.07.88 3 Berlin 26.09.2010
86 2:05:25 Albert Matebor KEN 20.12.80 3 Frankfurt 30.10.2011
88 2:05:26 Abraham Kiptum KEN 89 3 Amsterdam 15.10.2017
89 2:05:27 Jaouad Gharib MAR 22.05.72 3 London 26.04.2009
89 2:05:27 Wilson Chebet KEN 07.12.85 1 Rotterdam 10.04.2011
89 2:05:27 Tilahun Regessa ETH 18.01.90 3 Chicago 07.10.2012
92 2:05:28 Lemi Berhanu ETH 13.09.94 1 Dubai 23.01.2015
93 2:05:29 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Dubai 16.01.2009
94 2:05:30 Abderrahim Goumri MAR 21.05.76 3 London 13.04.2008
94 2:05:30 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Hamburg 21.04.2013
96 2:05:31 Evans Chebet KEN 05.03.88 3 Berlin 25.09.2016
97 2:05:33 Vincent Kipruto KEN 13.09.87 2 Rotterdam 10.04.2011
97 2:05:33 Evans Barkokwet KEN 05.03.88 2 Seoul 20.03.2016
99 2:05:36 James Kipsang Kwambai KEN 28.02.83 2 Berlin 28.09.2008
99 2:05:36 Wilson Chebet KEN 07.12.85 1 Amsterdam 20.10.2013
101 2:05:37 Moses Mosop KEN 17.07.85 1 Chicago 09.10.2011
101 2:05:37 Wilson Loyanai KEN 20.11.88 1 Seoul 18.03.2012
103 2:05:38 Khalid Khannouchi USA 22.12.71 1 London 14.04.2002
103 2:05:38 Tilahun Regessa ETH 18.01.90 1 Rotterdam 14.04.2013
105 2:05:39 Eliud Kiptanui KEN 06.06.89 1 Praha 09.05.2010
105 2:05:39 Mule Wasihun ETH 20.10.93 4 Amsterdam 15.10.2017
107 2:05:41 Samuel Wanjiru KEN 10.11.86 1 Chicago 11.10.2009
107 2:05:41 Dadi Yami ETH 82 6 Dubai 27.01.2012
107 2:05:41 Wilson Chebet KEN 07.12.85 1 Amsterdam 21.10.2012
107 2:05:41 Getu Feleke ETH 28.11.86 1 Wien 13.04.2014
111 2:05:42 Khalid Khannouchi MAR 22.12.71 1 Chicago 24.10.1999
111 2:05:42 Shami Abdullah ETH 16.07.84 7 Dubai 27.01.2012
111 2:05:42 Deressa Chisma ETH 21.11.76 8 Dubai 27.01.2012
111 2:05:42 Dickson Chumba KEN 27.10.86 1 Tokyo 23.02.2014
115 2:05:43 Amos Kipruto KEN 92 5 Amsterdam 15.10.2017
116 2:05:44 Getu Feleke ETH 28.11.86 1 Amsterdam 17.10.2010
116 2:05:44 Mule Wasihun ETH 20.10.93 5 Dubai 22.01.2016
118 2:05:45 Martin Lel KEN 29.10.78 2 London 17.04.2011
118 2:05:45 Patrick Makau KEN 02.03.85 3 London 17.04.2011
118 2:05:45 Sammy Kirop Kitwara KEN 26.11.86 2 Amsterdam 16.10.2016
121 2:05:46 Dickson Chumba KEN 27.10.86 1 Eindhoven 14.10.2012
122 2:05:47 Vincent Kipruto KEN 13.09.87 1 Paris 05.04.2009
122 2:05:47 Marius Kimutai KEN 88 3 Amsterdam 16.10.2016
124 2:05:48 Paul Tergat KEN 17.06.69 2 London 14.04.2002
124 2:05:48 Jafred Chirchir KEN 08.08.83 1 Eindhoven 09.10.2011
124 2:05:48 Daniel Wanjiru KEN 25.05.92 1 London 23.04.2017
Auto
Proof that mankind must move to either Kenya or Ethiopia to evolve further.
What role does geography and culture play in motivating and providing superior training conditions and opportunities?
“Dave Fair December 6, 2017 at 8:22 pm
Proof that mankind must move to either Kenya or Ethiopia to evolve further.”
I actually nearly did migrate, with my first wife who is Ethiopian, to Ethiopia. Biggest limiting factor was I don’t speak Amharic. So she came here to Australia.
Speaking seriously, I recommend anyone visit Ethiopia and/or Kenya. You will return home with a refreshed opinion about how lucky we are in the “west”, largely brought about by access to fossil fuels. One of the first things she said to me while driving home back from the airport was…”Why are there no people walking along the side of the road (No sealed footpaths like we’re used to, literally the side of the road, and no-one on footpaths that we have here)?”
I recall in Ethiopia giving a 1 Birr (Ethiopian currency) note to a kid at the side of the road while our tour driver was buying charcoal (Which is banned by the Govn’t for…CO2 emissions) for his home. The kid was ecstatic! Ran all the way back to a mud hut 20 meters away waving the note in his hand.
And Sondre Moen is currently living in Kenya – shouldn’t it be too hot for him there? As we all know, humans can’t adapt to warmer surroundings….. (/sarc, as if needed).
So if we’ve peaked, does that mean that the Earth is currently at its optimum temperature for humans?
God knows that common sense has almost completely disappeared.
Given the latest explosion in gene editing technology, I predict this claim will one day be regularly used as an example of *absolutely catastrophic* bad timing.
You mean like when the head of the patent office wanted to shut it down at the end of the 19th century because everything had already been invented?
well, considering the mass of stupid patent they now issue (“one-click”), it could have been better if they closed.
what is more likely than the idea that height has peaked is idea that human brain power is on the cusp of beginning a rapid natural advancement.
Modern medical trchnology has removed the bottle-neck on human cranial size at birth imposed by the physical limits of expansion on the human female cervix. Thus babies can now be born with larger brains. Humans are unique among land mammals at how long our brains continue to develop, at least to age 20 in females and maybe to 23-25 in males (male brain develop is slower than female development with no statistical difference in final size).
Any assumed affects of future climate change on human physical attributes are nothing compared to the likely selective advantage larger brains are probably already producing in societies where women have access to modern birth obstetrics.
[The mods must then point out that those larger modern brains will be immediately filled with more modern mush from the modern school systems and TV programs, a negative feedback to the species’ long-term survival. .mod]
I was thinking of that limitation, the conflict between male cranial capacity/ intelligence vs female birth canal size. Of course, bigger brains don’t always translate to better decisions. Politics will pretty much prevent that.
The human species, with our already oversize brain, has evolved to be the best hunter-killer to have ever roamed Planet Earth.
best BIOLOGICAL hunter-killer to have ever roamed Planet Earth.
Obviously, states and their armies are non biological entities that are better at killing than human. Of course, you may argue that humans are still both their main processing unit and in control of decisions, but they don’t have to be, and they are progressively replaced by computers and rules that humans have to follow. If you replace humans by computers, states and armies are still pretty much the same, and the result … fully explain Fermi’s paradox. We are doomed, indeed, so, nothing to worry about.
“The human species, with our already oversize brain, has evolved to be the best hunter-killer to have ever roamed Planet Earth.”
Top o’ da food chain, baby!
I agree that we reached our limits physically but that happened thousands of years ago when we abandoned being hunter-gatherers and developed agriculture. Our brains were 10% larger 10k years ago and we used to be taller as well. Now we have become short, fat, sick and stupid.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2002684/Were-getting-smaller-brains-shrinking-farming-blame.html
Primitive brains may be larger, but they weren’t necessarily more intelligent.
now, now Bob, that not a polite way to describe Al Gore…
Yeah. He’s not short!
Maybe smaller but certainly more dense in some of us.
I think this is not because of diet, it is because of social life in a much more comfortable environment. Intelligence never was a a positive for reproduction for women, but it turned into a real hindrance as soon as contraception and abortion were figured out. For men, being just average to flock to the crowd (and the dumbest religious beliefs, that are dumb indeed, but also prompt having children) also quickly turned more positive for reproduction than higher intelligence. Geniuses don’t have much children on average.
That’s why I am fairly confident in Jared Diamond feeling ( “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” ) that average Papuan is actually smarter that the average civilized guy.
Idiocracy was not a comedy, it was a dystopian prophecy. Climate isn’t shaping society, making life idiot proof is doing far more damage. Nature always comes up with a better idiot.
Or, Keith, you can “idiot-proof” something, but you can’t “damned idiot-proof” it. [Mark Twain, someone else?]
“A transdisciplinary research team from across France” –evokes a very, very strange image.
jorgekafkazar
Yuk!
It’ll take a long time for that image to leave my head.
Speaking of Normans, the English measuring system had a foot the length of an average sized man’s foot. A fathom equal to the outstretched arms of an average sized man, and yard equal to the stride of an average sized man. That average size is six foot, similar to modern western societies. Getting to that height limit just requires a high protein and healthy diet early in life. Mediaeval societies managed to get there.
Yeah, that’s why all medieval houses in Europe have such low doors and ceilings, of course….
Jer0me
Duck.
Speaking of climate craziness, never OT here, YOU TUBE gets more crazy CC videos every day, like snow flakes in a blizzard, some very amateurish, really silly ones, some with climate change in the title but just random content not having to do with climate change. Well if you want a real laugh view this one noted, some leftist apparently put some school kids up to acting like idiots in a short video, pretending to be uniformed zombies of climate change, all on a day with nice weather; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFv7GpPEUcE&lc=z23jwfihcyn1tfytlacdp43355pv4xs2jjjosdldlhtw03c010c.1512545234488914
Question if you were to group people by height and local average temperature, do you think the correlation would be with cold or heat when it came to an higher average height ?
Well we can start with a bit of speculation, those people native to the high north or arctic, and the fact there are none native to the far south or antarctic is the first ‘giveaway ‘ would seem to be shorter in stature than those from other areas . For example while average height of males in United Arab Emirates is 5 ft 8 , and for the Inuit it is 5 ft 4 in,
Clearly one off messages may mean little and outside of climate ‘science ‘ the normal procedure is to doubt until proven . But the idea that heat is bad for growth, in regards to height , does seem to be an hard sell .
Yet another stupid soft ‘science’ (aka not science) study that uses a faux-scientific method to draw out conclusions well beyond the mediocre data, and over-interpreted ‘results’, can show.
AKA — lefty BS!
I think this study is empirical proof that some of us have regressed mentally within a single lifetime … sucking on CO2 will do that …
I may” have reached the limit of my ability to endure be subjected to global warming BS without my brain literally exploding.
Then again…maybe not.
“Now that we know!!” S’Truth, It may even be due to the Pause! We know that Climate Blues shortened the careers of an unknown herd of climate scientists, never to be heard from again. I do think that alarum climate scientists are on the verge of getting shorter with their cash flow, but I hope it doesn’t effect their children except for increasing the liklihood that their horizons will be able to expand and they may get a real education afterall. Lew is hawking his meagre talents to give a professional flavor to the duff fluff stuff.
Biology has been corrupt longer than climate science has been around. That’s why Susan Crockford and Jim Steele are such treasures and the object of smear campaigns from their lessers. Boy they are coming out of the woodwork in hive loads and we aren’t hearing a peep out of the Team except to help smear an honest scientist.
Depends what “improvement ” is……
Fossilized footprints in Australia show that some ancient Australian aboriginal people were taller and could run faster than contemporary humans.
However contemporary humans are probably better at using facebook than ancient humans would have been…
Interesting thought. I question the difference between “modern” man and, say, a Sumerian from 3500BC. At birth they would be the same but by age 15, very different, but still have the same cognative abilities.
Peak humanity. Oh, the inhumanity!
It’s obviously just another twaddle-tastic climate person. But then, when you look down at all the references and realise that the author can cite nine references from similar morons, it becomes clear just how much potential productive capacity our current civilization is wasting… Up against the wall in a urinal.
It is good that we can afford such idiocy, but worrying that we may not be able to for much longer. I wonder, did the Romans ever feel this way?
Why has tiny Norway won more (winter) Olympic medals than any other country? Methinks that the premise is lacking somewhat.
Good question. I don’t think they ever won the Eurovision Song Contest.
YUP! 3 Times!
What does a research team do with poor research!?
Why, tie that research into the climate change gravy train!
(gravy train stolen from Jim Steele in an earlier thread).
These researcher jump from many assumptions to suddenly blaming climate change.
How are warmer winter nights going to have a bad effect on anyone?
Ethiopian and Kenyan long distance runners have a different muscle type, I forget the difference now, than most other people, especially Caucasian, they are also usually small, slim and slender and, in general, short.
I have travelled in Ethiopia in a 4×4 in remote areas such as Axum and have been followed by people running behind following the 4×4 for several hundred metres begging for money or offering something for sale.
And the Ethiopian and Kenyan Lions are unusually fast, Patrick.
Yes true, but they don’t carry pointed sticks.
Mine would be jabbing the guy in front of me.
“Dave Fair December 6, 2017 at 9:00 pm”
I’d throw him a set of Nikes.
What amuses me is that, once again, these pessimists refuse to consider the potential of advances in technology. Humans have never settled for “What we got is as good as it gets”. Ever.
Like it or not, does anyone here really believe that genetic manipulation will remain limited to strawberries, corn, and sheep?
It easy to predict that within 100 years (I’ve left myself a long window for purposes of certainty) that prospective parents will visit a genetic clinic to -at a minimum- make sure that geneticly linked disorders like diabetes, bad eyesight, and anything with the potential for shortening life are ‘repaired’ before conception. Sure, at first it will be expensive and limited to the wealthy, as everything is. However, it’s also easy to foresee a point where governments determine that “pre-conception genetic treatment” is cheaper than post birth medical treatment. You’ll always have mutts and strays so to speak, but certainly better health and greater longevity will become the norm for advanced societies.
This genie is already out of the box…..
+1
Except this is already done, and is not even limited to the wealthy. Just the beginning of course, and it will take some time to be part of the generic pre-childbearing consultation, but it will. Unless humans utterly stop to make children, which may happen, too. Many women postpone childbearing as long as they can, and if they can longer, …
‘Climate change’ has happened because humanity has peaked. It prefers to believe in science, rather than practice it.
‘science’ is no longer the province of independent gentlemen of private means. It is just another government funded public sector career.
The human race has peaked and is being overtaken by wild boars thanks to climate change!
The article reporting the death of a German hunter by a boar that he was hunting, went on to elaborate that “Wild boars are the winners of climate change and agricultural and energy policies”
Statement was made by hunting expert Torsten Reinwald.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/888219/hunter-dead-germany-killed-by-wild-boar
It looked like to me that the beast outwitted the hunter . . .