Evolution Tomorrow and Beyond

Evolution Tomorrow and Beyond - Robin May

Рет қаралды 16,371

Күн бұрын

Evolution has led from amoebae to blue whales and from algae to giant redwoods.
So what might it do in the future? What species might evolve in the next ten million years? How will evolutionary processes change as a result of human innovation and what are the risks of us getting it disastrously wrong? What might evolution look like if we ever set up home on another planet, or if inhabitants of other planets arrive here?
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
02:02 - How Evolution Works
05:27 - Climate Change
08:05 - How we've accidentally impacted animal evolution
13:05 - How Pandemics shaped human evolution
19:06 - Bacterial resistance to antibiotics
21:24 - Future pandemics
23:39 - Survival through better immune systems
26:18 - Survival through being antisocial
28:35 - Survival through being violent
32:23 - Gene editing to prevent disease
39:17 - Cosmetic gene editing in utero
41:20 - Does musical genius come from genes?
43:52 - Human evolution beyond Earth
46:41 - Conclusion
47:28 - Q&A Session
This lecture was recorded by Robin May on 8th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London
Robin is Gresham Professor of Physic.
He is also Chief Scientific Adviser at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Professor of Infectious Disease at the University of Birmingham.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website:
www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/e...
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Пікірлер: 43

@noahwinberry2475 Ай бұрын

This man makes me wish I'd been certified as a middle/high school science teacher instead of a social studies one. But you can bet that I'm stealing as much of this as possible.

@alexandraetush1099 Ай бұрын

I loved the Evolution series. Robin May is just brilliant. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him

@fullnewsky 2 ай бұрын

My favorite lecturer!❤

@DianaStevens42 Ай бұрын

he’s sooo hot

@userwl2850 Ай бұрын

This was great

@katarinavidakovic4718 Ай бұрын

Always make my day enjoy every minute of it❤

@hoangvu220 29 күн бұрын

43:40 LVB was "massively unmusical," falling in the 9th percentile of people with musical skills. Who knew? Robin is hilarious, but how come people don't laugh (or at least giggle) at his quips? Immensely enjoyable, and educational to boot! Thanks.

@rejipaul433 Ай бұрын

Would like to refute a point. UK gets much lower UV exposure. Therefore paler skin is an evolutionary advantage and that’s why people living in higher latitudes have relatively lighter pigmentation, primarily to do with Vitamin D utilisation N.B - eskimos is an exception because of reflected UV from snow

@jeffbguarino Ай бұрын

No , Eskimos have not had time to adapt. They have not been around that long. Also thet get vitamin D from fish. Only the European farmers had vitamin D deficiency.

@rejipaul433 Ай бұрын

Eskimos still hasn’t acquired lighter pigmentation since they have a ready source of vitamin D in the fish. It’s also likely acquiring lighter pigmentation would put them at an evolutionary disadvantage in view of the reflective UV from the snow. However perhaps if fish was not a ready source of vitamin D , natural selection would have determined whether they should have lighter pigmentation to get more vitamin D from the reflective UV. My initial point was Mr. May gave wrong information saying UK has high UV exposure.

@michaels4255 Ай бұрын

This is the most popular theory, but there are arguments against it, and alternative theories exist. This is still an unsettled question.

@SunflowerFlowerEmpire 9 күн бұрын

Evolution is super slow, we're always in the present aren't we?

@terenzo50 2 ай бұрын

Que sera, sera.

@expatexpat6531 2 ай бұрын

I read somewhere that due to the availability of caesarian operations (mainly in the west), there is a creeping Lara-Croft-isation of women's physiques, i.e. slim-hipped women who may have died in childbirth in earlier generations are now surviving and passing on their slim-hipped genes. May be absolute nonsense, but comments from slim-hipped women and otherwise are appreciated :-)

@entropy5431 2 ай бұрын

Lara Croft has an hour glass figure but usual hips.

@molochi 2 ай бұрын

You might as well add children that had rather large heads at birth to that equation. And of course the actual reason for most cesarean sections being children trying to come out feet first or with entangled umblical chords.

@expatexpat6531 2 ай бұрын

@@molochi I had a slim-hipped colleague who chose to have all of her three children delivered by c-section. Apparently further pregnancies after a c-section birth can be risky.

@SirAntoniousBlock 2 ай бұрын

Where did you read that, in The Sun?

@expatexpat6531 2 ай бұрын

@@SirAntoniousBlock No, I checked. It was a BBC article from 2016. Search for "Caesarean births 'affecting human evolution".

@katherandefy 23 күн бұрын

I disagree with the idea that violence is pro survival in the future any more than cooperation is. I can easily buy the idea that survivors who are loners survive well but that does not mean violence or cooperation. It just means similar to Neanderthals population could dwindle before we could purposely select (artificially) for the quality of survival that works best. This is at somewhat a past projection by necessity as we cannot see the future directly or imagine better maybe. Surely we could imagine better. I mean it is worth trying to.

@samomuransky4455 18 сағат бұрын

I do understand concern of genetic modification leading to less diversity and therefore possibly catastrophic consequences for the humanity in the future when our conditions change but at the same time, surely if we develop the capability of modifing DNA, we will also be able to use it when it happens? Diversity ensures survival of the species but at the expense of many individuals dying. With gene editing, if we ever face new conditions, we can re-edit the genes to suit them. That sounds like a more efficient strategy to me. Besides, I don't really believe in banning research because its goal is unethical. It's not possible to enforce this worldwide and forever. Someone, somewhere at some point will develop it, we're just delaying it and risking that those who do develop it first will be the ones who don't play by the rules (leading to all kinds of catastrophic scenarios). There are millions people on this planet who could benefit from gene editing and have their lives massively improved but won't live to see that day because we're holding this unrealistic hope that it will never be developed. When in reality we're delaying it by what? Decades? Certainly no more than a century.

@margaretbloomer9001 25 күн бұрын

Slow down and take a breath.

@rovert1284 Ай бұрын

Pretty depressing picture for human evolution. Our medical care keeps most alive through the breeding ages. The more successful (in a technology age) are not breeding to any extent. Firstly due to education demands and then career aspirations. I suspect those without education/careers are breeding at a higher rate. I read that IQ is in a downward trend which does not bode well for the long term. Perhaps intelligence is no longer a requirement for the species......

@gk-qf9hv Ай бұрын

With 8 billion people on earth now, shouldn't their be more mutations than before?

@hmq9052 2 ай бұрын

We may get two types of human. Rich and poor. The rich will be tall and magnificent and highly intelligent (because they can afford 'perfect' children thanks genetic planning) and an underclass of short, brutish, slaves.

@molochi 2 ай бұрын

I guess that might be the dream of some.

@bazsnell3178 2 ай бұрын

Excellent point. Maybe like the two races described in the H.G. Wells's novel ''The Time Machine''. Regardless, there is already an 'underclass' who cannot afford private dental treatment because the National Health Service has next-to-none NHS dentists on their books. The rich, however, don't need an appointment to see their ''orthodontist'' (just a fancy term to describe a 'cosmetic' dentist). Bottom line here. You're poor, your teeth fall out. You're rich, you can buy a perfect set of pearly-whites.

@hmq9052 2 ай бұрын

@@bazsnell3178 🎯

@noahwinberry2475 Ай бұрын

If we only consider the expertise in the genetics field as it is now, the tools and ability to deploy the knowledge will slowly become cheaper and more accessible (think cars, flat screen TVs, different kinds of medical procedures). The way middle-class folks live in the Western world today would look unimaginably lavish to those living 50-75 years ago, what with all the electronics and appliances, but it's because the tech became more efficient and cheaper to make and the knowledge easier to deploy. Assuming these patterns continue, the lower classes aren't going to be left here in the first half of the 21st century, while the rich exponentially accelerate in tools and medicine over the next few centuries. The "less new" new techs and procedures will diffuse down while the elites keep advancing. The elites always take 2 steps forward for every 1 of the lower class, but I think it would take a dedicated eugenics program to really keep the lower classes down in the way this comment suggests

@hmq9052 Ай бұрын

@@noahwinberry2475 It'll happen more organically. The rich will not breed with the poor, and worse, will be able to produce exponentially more exceptional children. Perhaps with expensive electronic chips that perfectly balance their diets, help choose their romantic partners and screen for the early signs of disease. No eugenics programmes required. It'll be the haves and the have nots - like we have now - except the haves will have access to an awful lot more. At a price only they can afford. Two types of humans emerge