March 8 is International Women’s Day when we celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements and advancements made by women. In a world where sometimes we unjustly overlook the contributions of women, it's important to take the time to recognise what they've done for humankind. But what if every day was International Women’s Day?
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The male chromosome is set to ‘self-destruct’
According to Australian geneticist Jenny Graves, the end of the male sex has already been observed in certain species. After observing and carrying out research on mice, Graves states that ‘the Y has been completely lost in two rodent lineages’. According to her, the same phenomenon is due to happen to the human race in a matter of time.
‘The question is when. The primate Y has been relatively stable for at least 20 million years. But ultimately the human Y could lose the rest of its genes quite suddenly’, Graves claims. ‘It could suffer a sudden collapse’. According to her projections, the death of the Y chromosome won’t happen in our lifetimes, but rather in five hundred million years.
According to her, there are two reasons for the death of the Y chromosome. Not only are the human testes dangerous environments prone to causing mutations within the sperm, but the Y chromosome is not very resilient and incapable of properly repairing itself.
All of this means that one day, women will be the only ones roaming the Earth, although it will be some time before it happens. In the meantime, we’ll celebrate International Women’s Day altogether. We're stronger together, everyone.
