"Let the men all die" is a common line in romance novels. Millions of years from now, this may be the case. According to the British "Daily Mail" reported on the 2nd, Jenny Graves, a professor at the University of Canberra in Australia, predicted that due to the gradual degeneration of the Y chromosome, male humans will be extinct from the earth in 5 million years.

"The process of extinction has begun"

Graaves is one of Australia's most influential scientists. Recently, in a public lecture at the Australian Academy of Science, she said that the Y chromosome, which is unique to males, is too fragile to repair the damage caused by genetic mutations on its own, which means that males are on their way to extinction. And, the process of extinction has already begun.

The X chromosome contains about 1,000 healthy genes, and the Y chromosome originally had as many genes as the X chromosome, Graffs said. However, after a long evolutionary process, modern males have less than 100 genes left in the Y chromosome.

She explained that women have two X chromosomes and can "exchange information" in the process of genetic mutation, copying healthy genes from each other to complete self-repair. However, due to the lack of "companions", the male Y chromosome cannot repair its own defects through mirror replication, and its genetic defects will be inherited from generation to generation, leading to the gradual degeneration of the Y chromosome. "The rest of the genes on the Y chromosome are basically 'garbage'. I call it stupid design. Graves said in his speech.

According to her calculations, after 5 million years, the Y chromosome will disappear completely. Once the Y chromosome disappears, males will also become extinct.

Females may reproduce on their own

So, if men do go extinct, will humans continue to survive? Graves believed that when the Y chromosome disappears, another chromosome can be used to assume the function of the Y chromosome, which will lead to the birth of a new human being. In fact, there is already a precedent in nature for this, and a Japanese hedgehog survived the loss of its Y chromosome.

In addition, some scientists believe that even if there are no males on Earth, females can continue to reproduce through "parthenogenesis". At present, British researchers have mastered the technology of cultivating "artificial sperm" through male bone marrow cells, and the next plan is to cultivate "artificial sperm" through female bone marrow cells. Once successful, for a maximum of three to five years, women can reproduce on their own without relying on men. However, since the "artificial sperm" cultivated by Tongguò female stem cells does not have a Y chromosome, its offspring will all be girls.