The human race is a great species. We wouldn't be on top of the food chain, otherwise. The problem is, we're not all that better from any other species, in that we only have two things in mind: to multiply, and to consume. This is the larger cause of two of the most serious problems threatening us today: overpopulation, and world hunger.

A large part of the world is hungry, while other parts of the world grow fat. This is a sad, sad thing, for many reasons. Yet it is also sad to realize that humans, as a whole race, would not be the first to suffer its own faults. Hundreds of species go extinct every day because of us, and it looks like the polar bears of the Arctic will soon be part of the world's casualty list.

You probably heard by now how the North Pole is in danger of losing all its ice this Summer. The decreasing ice in the pole is the reason why polar bears have been added to the endangered species list. The melting polar ice cap not only decreases their hunting grounds, but their mating grounds as well.

And what do humans do to make up for it? Leading associations are now contemplating on just shipping some polar bears off to the other side of the world (literally), to the South Pole, Antarctica. Not a lot of people agree on this - I have my doubts as well - as this might mess up the eco-system of the Antarctic, and it doesn't even guarantee the survival of the bears.

Still, what other options are left?

If things go as they are though, sooner or later the South Pole wouldn't be spared of us as well. It's not hard to answer the question of whether the rest of the lives on Earth would fare better without us here. (At least, until some other species become the dominant race and start doing the mistakes we did.)

 

I like to humor myself sometimes and just let myself believe that someday, humans will be able to leave the planet and migrate to an uninhabited one, like Mars. Scientists have recently found evidence that the planet was brimming with water somewhere in its past. It's not hard to imagine that humans would be able to terraform the planet in the future.

I end this Science Weekend Warrior with a thought from Battlestar Gallactica's Boomer: do humans being deserve its existence?

Link: Evidence that Ancient Mars held water, hope for alien life
Link: A rock and a cold place: move polar bears to Antarctica

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Comment(s) of the Week:

A new study from the University of Bristol posed the following question: are humans in danger of evolving with smaller brains? This isn't necessarily a bad thing mind you - it just points out that we need a part of our brain less and less, and this is the part that does split-second decision making, marked by a need to evade immediate dangers.

Still, no one likes a smaller brain. As humans evolve to consume and multiply on the Earth, the immediate dangers our environment poses become less and less (like speeding cars).

Are we in danger of losing our minds? Er, that is, getting smaller brains? No, that's still not right... Are we in danger of evolving to have more compact brains? (That sounds about right, right?) Meseria and ultimax give their views on the matter:

Link: Will evolution cause human brains to grow smaller?