Dr. Matthew Skinner, a paleoanthropologist at England’s
University of Kent, recently claimed that humans may evolve webbed feet and
cat-like eyes in response to global warming. The good doctor says that this
could come about if melting ice caps cause rising sea levels and therefore a
“water world” environment, according to the UK’s Daily Mail.
Dr.
Skinner also said that some changes could take place very quickly and noted
that some humans already have a genetic mutation that produces webbing. Other
changes would take longer. Our noses and face size would increase to help warm
inhaled cold air in the nasopharynx, the area behind the nose. (I thought
global warming heated the oceans, too).
We may develop a layer in the retina to help us see in poor light under
water. Finally, the scientist stated, humans may even develop gills.
As part
of an exercise to calculate how our physical appearance could change under a
number of different scenarios, Dr. Skinner and other "experts" also contemplated
what might happen if we colonized other planets (that better happen before we have gills and webbed feet!)
or if an asteroid struck Earth, triggering another
ice age. Ice age?
I don’t
wish to duck the issue, but there’s something fishy here. Thinking about this
is stressing me out. I mean, how will we know what to pack for future trips? I need to relax.
I’m
going for a swim.
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