Men will be extinct: Appreciate them now

Men face mass extinction because male genes are dying out, according to researchers. What would the world be without men? Some women might think it's a good idea. 

But my advice is to love and cherish the men in your life right now because it's probably that the male gender won't be around in generations to come. 

"Men are on the road to extinction as their genes shrink and slowly fade away," Professor Jennifer Graves, a genetic expert warned. She is a researcher in human sex chromosomes who says that  the male Y chromosome is dying and could one day run out. But don't worry just yet - the change is not due to take place for another five million years.

But all is not lost. She said men may follow the path of the vole (a type of rodent) which still manages to reproduce despite not having the vital genes that make up the Y chromosome.

"You need a Y chromosome to be male," said Prof Jennifer Graves. "Three hundred million years ago the Y chromosome had about 1,400 genes on it, and now it's only got 45 left, so at this rate we're going to run out of genes on the Y chromosome in about five million years.

"The Y chromosome is dying and the big question is what happens then."

The male Y chromosome has a gene (SRY) which switches on the development of testis and pumps out male hormones that determine maleness. In her lecture, entitled "The Decline and Fall of the Y Chromosome and the Future of Men," Prof Graves discussed the disappearance of the Y chromosome and the implications for humans.

She said it was not known what would happen once the Y chromosome disappeared. "Humans can't become asexual like some lizards, because several vital genes must come from the male," she continued. "But the good news is that certain rodent species - the mole voles of Eastern Europe and the country rats of Japan - have no Y chromosome and no SRY gene.

"Yet there are still plenty of healthy male mole voles and country rats running around. Some other gene must have taken over the job and we'd like to know what that gene is."

The scientist said there were several genes which could take over from SRY, adding whichever one did take over is based purely on chance. 

"It is even possible that two or more different sex-determination systems based on different genes could arise in different populations," she added.

"These could no longer reproduce with each other, leading to two different species of humans."

It's true, we won't be around in 5 million years to see the results of the disappearance of the Y chromosome. But it still gives us pause to stop and appreciate males as they exist today. It is difficult to imagine a world without men. A world of only women seems impossible. Let's hope that, another chromosome will take over. That gene hasn't been determined yet.

It's too hard to imagine a world without male genes. One day women may go to museums just to see examples of the extinct male, the way we view dinosaurs today.