What Does Evolution Have in Store for us?

Scientists the world over say we have reached the tipping point in climate change. This means that the climate has reached a self-generating feedback cycle, and change cannot be stopped. It is doubtful that the affects can be lessened by mankind either. We are locked in the rollercoaster and it is about to take-off. However, there are other things afoot for humanity too. Things less well known.

As the climate changes, so does man's technology. We are quickly reaching a point in bio-engineering where we can create and change things on a DNA level., and will soon be able to literally grow custom designed organic parts and life forms. As our bio engineering advances, so to does our knowledge of computers and artficial intelligence. Recent advances in light manipulation have opened the door to Quantum Computing, a technology that was unheard of 20 years ago.

Inevitably, these technologies will mesh. When this occurs, what is to become of simple humanity? Is this our fate, to redesign ourselves to stay a step ahead of our changing climate and worsening conditions on Earth?

Climate Change Caused Mass Extinctions, not Asteroids?

A group of Climate Scientists and Earth Scientists are now proposing a theory that sudden climatic change, not asteroid collision, has been responsible for most of the mas extinction events which have occured throughout history. They are basing this off the partly off the geological record, and what is known to have occurred during the early periods of life on Earth.

Whether right or wrong, it is a fact that mass extinctions have occurred due to climate change. The extinction event at the end of the Permian period is a prime example, where a combination of glacial melt and volcanism is thought to have initiated the climatic change.

So, the question is, are we next? Are we condemned to repeat the past?

Read more about Earth's extinction events here...

More about Climate Change and the Extinction cycle can be found here...

Humans Might Have Triggered Climate Change Earlier Than Previously Thought...

Some new findings concerning climate change are making the rounds in Science-Land. It seems humanity cannot stop making the same mistakes of the past. It has always been assumed that early man could not have influenced his environment on a large scale, this is now known to be false. Early man's ventures into agriculture permanently changed the environment, with such practices as large scale slash and burn farming, and decimation of entire forested regions.

It is now becoming increasingly accepted by the scientific community that these early farming practices produced enough Carbon Monoxide to tip the climate scale into the current warming trend we are now experiencing.

Read more about this at The Examiner...

A Dire Sign of Climate Change or Something Else...

More and more we are seeing reports of unusual animals showing up in places where they are not expected. For example, an alligator was seen at a Minnesota Fourth of July BBQ this weekend. Alligators, as we all know, are not known for living in the wilds of Minnesota. They are more commonly found in places like Texas and Florida.

But there's more...

Other critters, such as the sharks of the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp, seem to be moving in to areas where they are normally not found. A few years back when I lived in Alaska, it was common knowledge that fish species from warmer regions were starting to be found in the coastal waters of Alaska. These waters normally only harbor cold water species. Whether this is due to climate change, or human interference in nature, it is currently unknown.

CryptoMundo has a good article over it here.

Is Our Future Terraformed?

Sci-Fi fans have known about it for years, but the average person knows very little about what Terraforming means. Terraforming is an engineering process to make a planet or environment more Earth-like. In this era of climate change, could this be our future?

Scientists have developed a "synthetic tree" which captures carbon dioxide in the air 1000 times more efficiently than a natural tree. The gas is then compressed and stored as liquid carbon dioxide. It operates very similarly to a CO2 scrubber used to keep factory smokestacks clean, and looks sort of like a public lavatory.

The speculation is that large banks of them will be built to scrub our air clean, financed by a small surcharge on vehicle purchases. Here is the interesting part; they only cost as much as an average car! It seems it is not such a far fetched idea after-all. Imagine one on every street corner, or banks of them along smoggy highways.

See more about it HERE.