Studies have revealed how we'll evolve over the next millennium
We know how evolution works. Or at least, we've seen the diagram with the monkey slowly standing up, and we definitely remember at least two GCSE biology lessons when we learned about our slightly-furry ancestors. But have you ever thought about how humans will evolve in the future?
No?
Well we're about to blow your millennial minds.
Scientists (who else?) have studied the way our bodies adapt to our environments and discovered the following:
We're going to have big, red eyes. It's thought that the constant screen time is going to affect the way in which our eyes process light, and over time, the whites of our eyes will become red. Dr. Alan Kwan, who holds a PhD in computational genomics from Washington University, believes it's possible that we'll be colonising planets away from the sun, so our eyes will be larger too, in order to survive in dimmer environments.
Our boyfriends will have smaller penises. Experts believe that our increased focus on virtual reality will mean that sex becomes less and less common - one sex scientist even reckons that by 2050, we'll be having more sex with robots than with humans (yikes) - meaning we have less need for blokes with large, dangly genitalia. We'll all have bigger bums, and more rounded shoulders. Now this seems particularly predictable. Despite the development of fitness tech that vibrates every hour to remind you to move your body and go for a walk around the block, we're already spending dangerous amounts of time sitting down. Forward-thinking folk believe this is going to get worse in the next 1000 years, and could see our straight, evolved backs curl over into shrunken, slouching C-shapes.
We're likely to be taller. It's likely that you're already taller than at least one of your parents, and it looks like our children are going to be heads above us too. As nutrition in first world countries develops, we're gradually getting bigger and bigger - and it shows no signs of slowing down. As a plus, it might eventually become easier for women to buy shoes in sizes over a seven. Hurrah!
Our skin will be darker. As the ozone layer erodes and we're exposed to increasing amounts of UV light, dermatologists believe pale skin will be forced to evolve in order to cope with the rays. Similarly, as global transit increases, it's thought that interracial relationships will lead to a society where people look more and more similar.
(No comment yet on whether we'll be have developed fins - but these photos of what London will look like in 2100 suggest that we'll need them...)
