Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetée
I say the best hope of us evloving in some discernable way within the next few centuries is to increase our exposure to venomous critters, as in the inhabitants of Australia, for example, and in our frequent encounters with them, we may delevop in our children an overall immunity to the venom in which once claimed the ancestors.
|
That's not how evolution works. Traits are not developed in response to threats, organisms that are less suited to dealing with those threats die off. For Australians to evolve venom immunity, either random mutation or genetic engineering would have to introduce a gene that confers immunity to that poison, either by coding a protein that destroys it and is harmless to the body, or that restructures the nervous or cardiovascular system in such a way that it is unaffected by the venom. Then, the fatality rate among those not immune has to grow to the point that non-immune people are not able to survive to sexual maturity and reproduce. There's no reason to expect that to happen because most individuals survive long enough to reproduce without dying from venomous animal bites.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrexify
Don't we only use something like 10% of our brain capacity at full load? I've always wondered what it would be like if we were able to "unlock" them and get closer to 100% activity. Maybe not superpowers, but perhaps we'd all be a little more like savants without the loss of social/communication skills.
|
It doesn't work that way. Roughly 10% of neurons are firing at any time and that statistic got warped into a ridiculous myth. There is no part of the brain that goes unused.