There is a hot debate going on in the scientific community. It seems that that the Y chromosome is slowly disappearing and in a little over 4.6 million years, it will have completely vanished. So whats the big deal? The Y chromosome is what gives us two sexes. The Y chromosome is the male and the X chromosome is the female. First a little background.
“The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is the sex-determining chromosome, since it is the presence or absence of Y that determines the male or female sex of offspring produced in sexual reproduction. In mammals, the Y chromosome contains the gene SRY, which triggers testis development. The DNA in the human Y chromosome is composed of about 59 million base pairs. The Y chromosome is passed only from father to son.”
The Debate: On the question of whether the Y chromosome will actually disappear, the scientific community, like the UK at the moment, is currently divided into the “leavers” and the “remainers.” The remainers argues that its defense mechanisms do a great job and have rescued the Y chromosome before. But the leavers say that all they are doing is allowing the Y chromosome to cling on by its fingernails, before eventually dropping off the cliff. However, Y chromosomes have a fundamental flaw. Unlike all other chromosomes, which we have two copies of in each of our cells, Y chromosomes are only ever present as a single copy, passed from fathers to their sons. Also the Y chromosome is not necessary for life, after all women do not posses the Y chromosome, but instead have the X chromosome. What’s more, the Y chromosome degenerates rapidly, leaving females with two perfectly normal X chromosomes, but males with an X and a shriveled Y. The leavers have proposed that sometime in the distant future (if we are still here), humans may be unisex or men will also be able to have children. Another hypothesis is that even if the Y chromosome in humans does disappear, it does not necessarily mean that males themselves are on their way out. Even in the species that have actually lost their Y chromosomes completely, males and females are both still necessary for reproduction. Personally, I like it the way it is, but just in case you like to know, I have figured out what generation will be impacted. Douglas L. T. Rohde of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology put out a paper called the “Common Ancestors of All Humans.” His paper suggest there are 350 generations in 10,000 years. That means my great (140,000 times), grandson, may be my great (140,000 times,) grandson/granddaughter.
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