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posted by martyb on Thursday May 31 2018, @09:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-out-of-this-world! dept.

Sex on Mars is going to be risky, but it could create a new human subspecies

In a new research paper published in Futures, an international team of scientists examines the challenges of reproduction on the Martian surface. It's a risky proposition, but if humans succeed in conceiving, carrying, and birthing offspring on another world it might actually be the start of a new species.

In the paper, the researchers tackle a huge number of potential problems that could crop up when humans are finally ready to rear young on Mars. The first and most obvious hurdle is the low gravity environment, which could pose a serious threat to the conception and pregnancy processes that seem so simple here on Earth.

[...] The paper also examines the inherent challenges of bolstering the numbers of a small colony of settlers on the planet. The concept of "love" might have to take a back seat to pure survival, with men and women being paired up by their biology rather than emotion. Additionally, some individuals may never be allowed to have children due to undesirable traits that are a risk to the colony as a whole.

In a somewhat scary aside, the researchers also note that editing the genes of future Mars babies might be an easy way to increase the prospects of survival.

Also at Live Science.

Biological and social challenges of human reproduction in a long-term Mars base (DOI: 10.1016/j.futures.2018.04.006) (DX)

Related: Space colonization and suffering risks: Reassessing the "maxipok rule" (DOI: 10.1016/j.futures.2018.04.008) (DX)


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  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday May 31 2018, @09:30PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday May 31 2018, @09:30PM (#686938)

    I've wondered a few times, why mankind tends to produce roughly the same number of males and females.

    There's nothing to wonder about: It's the result of the process of sexual reproduction that goes back to single-celled organisms, combined with the X/Y chromosomes that determine whether the organism will be male-type or female-type in the vast majority of mammals including primates. You have most male-types with XY, they divide into sperm that are usually either X or Y in approximately a 50% ratio, and that combined with the eggs that are usually X, is guaranteed to have 50% odds of male-ness.

    The mechanisms that could in theory exist to change that would all have the effect of reducing the chances of the parents reproducing at all, by killing off potential XY babies before they were born (e.g. 50% of Y-type sperm being non-viable). Which, in turn, lowers the odds that those genes would be passed on at all. Which means they're unlikely to arise via natural selection.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @07:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @07:23AM (#687139)

    There's nothing to wonder about

    they divide into sperm that are usually either X or Y in approximately a 50% ratio

    https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/begging-the-question [yourlogicalfallacyis.com]

    Why are the sperm in that ratio? They don't have to be: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120228114201.htm [sciencedaily.com]