Ever seen the old movie Catwomen of The Moon? How about Queen of Outer Space?
These old science fiction-type movies portray civilizations where there are NO MEN...only women.
But is this really just the stuff of fantasy?
Not according to many genetic scientists.
Remember I was telling you the other day that i was watching Nightline? Well this was the lead story that night........and i've been thinking about it ever since-
Imagine?
No men?
I don't know about you all, but I really like men.
I can't even imagine a world without them.......a world of only women.
But the scientists say it's inevitable....
No, not tomorrow, or in 20 years, but the prediction is, in about 100-125 thousand years, men will be no more.....
Why?
It's because of the Y chromosome; that thing that makes babies into boys, and is passed from father to son. You see, the Y chromosone cannot repair itself. It's smaller than any other chromosome, and much smaller than the X chromosome. Scientists say that the vast majority of this little chromosome's genetic coding is redundant......and riddled with mutations....300 million years ago, the Y chromosome contained about 1500 genes....the current version only contains about 5% of that number.....It is from this rate of decay that scientists theorize the eventual extinction of men....
They point to lots of indicators- the most popular being decreased fertility counts- Over the past 50 years alone, the sperm counts of the average male have decreased a whopping 20%....This is blamed on free radicals which the Y chromosome is especially vulnerable to....
And they point to population numbers...according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the ratio of male-to-female births has substantially dropped in the US and Japan....yielding about 250,000 fewer boys than would have been born had the sex ration circa 1970 had endured....
So how will women survive without them????
Guess what? Scientists say the ability for women to survive without men is only about 20 years away!!!! That it's already been been done with mice....
How?
Through an asexual reproductive process called parthenogenesis.
This is where the female both creates the egg and fertilizes it without sperm. Of course the result would always be a female....
Some honeybees, kimodo dragons, and hammerhead sharks already reproduce naturally by parthenogenesis.....
And that's where scientists believe humans are headed too- reproductively speaking.
I don't know about you, but I find all of this a bit disturbing-
I'm kinda glad I won't be around in 150 thousand years.......
I think i will have to reconsider complaining about the fact that my husband doesn't pick up his own socks, or mow the lawn as often as I like.......hmmmmm i might even have to think about that honey-do list that causes so much churn in our household...
Maybe we should all just enjoy them while we can......
