'Hey Bill Nye, If Humans Colonize Mars, How Will We Evolve?’ #TuesdaysWithBill | Big Think

Hey Bill. My name is Victor and I’m from Markham, Ontario. The question I have for you this Tuesday pertains to human evolution and space colonization.

I understand that humans are constantly evolving to adapt to the environment around us. For instance, astronauts who have gone on long expeditions need to be carried out of their spacecraft after returning back to Earth. So what kind of evolutions do you think we might see in humans if we colonize a planet with lower gravity like Mars?

Thank you.

Victor, Victor, Victor. This is an excellent question and I appreciate you asking it. Notice that it is my strong belief that we will not colonize Mars. It’s a very romantic notion. You live in Ontario.

I don’t know, but it looks like your ancestors came from the west, the left coast of Canada, and a lot of people who first colonized Canada were from Europe. And we have this vision that you leave your native country because you’re getting religiously persecuted or someone is making you a good deal on going to a new world where you can start a new life.

And the people that came to North America from Europe thought this was great. They were going across North America eating everything, foraging in the forest, cutting down trees, making farms, finding all these remarkable natural resources, especially in Canada, all these wonderful mineral resources. And they had a fabulous life.

But everywhere they went there was water and, most especially, they could breathe. That is huge. And I say to everybody who thinks that everybody—he or she who wants to colonize Mars—colonize Antarctica. See what you think.

No, no, no, no. None of this going to the seashore where the penguins are swimming and the orca are eating the seals and there’s krill for the very large whales. Go to the dry valleys where it barely gets close to the freezing point of water when there is water. It hasn’t snowed or rained in a century. There’s nothing to eat. And see what you think really. See if that appeals to you.

Yes, humankind has a base in Antarctica populated by hundreds of people, many of them are scientists and they’ve made important discoveries about planetary science, about the Earth and our environment and climates and so on. But Mars is really just an inhospitable place.

With that said, there’s a movie coming out called The World’s Between Us where a kid is born on Mars. Apparently, surreptitiously, a pregnant woman ends up on Mars against all protocols or whatever science fiction things they had to put in there to get her there. And the kid grows up on Mars and eventually he comes to the Earth, but his heart isn’t strong enough for him to carry on.

He can’t jump, and of course, he falls in love with an Earth girl, and there are some issues that you always have when an Earth boy comes from Mars. I mean, an Earth ancestor boy comes from Mars to Earth—there are some problems because he can’t run or whatever. It’s like boy in the bubble.

So it might be a cool movie. I’ve only seen a portion of it, but it’s called World’s Between Us, which addresses your question, I think, from a science fiction standpoint.

Then, when you say, well, how will humans evolve? Humans are evolving, but boy, it’s hardly noticeable. You know, humans are all over the Earth now, and I say all the time they run this test continually, Victor. Humans from different parts of the world have sex with each other and produce more humans.

But you still end up with a human. So I’m not sure humans would evolve much on Mars unless there really was selection pressure. Only women that could handle the Martian gravity, only the offspring that could handle the Martian gravity would do well.

Only the human offspring that could handle ultraviolet light perhaps or could handle bitter cold. Even when you have a spacesuit, there might be cold extremities—your fingers and toes and stuff. But that selection pressure would be really slow.

And I just say all the time, a science base on Mars—yes, let’s go. A science colony, I mean a human colony where your families are going to retire or raise kids and build playgrounds—that’s a lot harder thing.

But you’re asking a great question, Victor. Look at the movie and see what you think. Carry on.