Adam's Curse
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Adam's Curse: A Story of Sex, Genetics, and the Extinction of Men is a book by Oxford University human genetics professor Bryan Sykes expounding his hypothesis that with the declining sperm count in men and the continual atrophy of the Y chromosome, within 5,000 generations (approximately 125,000 years) the male of the human species will become extinct.
Sykes believes one of the options for the survival of humanity is unisex reproduction by females: female eggs fertilised by the nuclear X chromosomes of another female and implanted using in vitro fertilisation methods.
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Opposing view
The Y chromosome may wither to the absolute minimum needed to sustain reproduction, but no more, because a chromosome that won't breed won't be carried to its descendants - therefore, only the stronger Y chromosomes will be passed on to future generations.
A further point of contention is that declining sperm counts have been linked to industrialization, with environmental toxification as the presumed mechanism. If this is indeed the cause, then there is no reason to believe that a solution to the pollution problem won't also lead to a return to historical levels of male fertility.
See also
References
- Sykes, Bryan (2003). Adam's Curse: A Story of Sex, Genetics, and the Extinction of Men. London: Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-05004-5
External links
- Review of Adam's Curse (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2003/09/21/bosyk21.xml) from The Daily TelegraphTemplate:Book-stub