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Last edited Mon Nov 10, 2025, 12:35 AM - Edit history (5)
Popular Mechanics is an online sciencezine that presents a distinctly tabloid-friendly “brand” of science journalism. Lots of religion adjacent, wish fulfilment fantasy style material - aliens, time travel, multiverses, limitless energy!
I don’t blame the writers. It’s Hearst. They would probably lose their jobs if they didn’t give the public what it wants and hey, we could all use a little escapism these days. They still do a decent job off and on.
One of their writers, Darren Orf, wrote what I consider one of the most apt and brief descriptors I have ever come across of our glorious species:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a64845255/quantum-communication-seti/
a sub-I species intent on poisoning its own atmosphere.
Yup-that would be us
.
It is alarming to see that left or right, all talk of the environment has tacitly been ditched. Apparently, along with legitimately inane stuff, the environment was also axed as unworthy of any concern. What bearing can it possibly have on human life?? Business as usual!
Sub-I species intent on poisoning its own atmosphere is too kind. We are also taking down the biosphere for everything else. Why would any intelligent alien species want to contact us? I’d support the worldview of the pacifist from the scifi show “3–body problem” and signal “Stay away! We are a fucking crazy, war-like, destructive, factory farming species. You don’t want to know us”.
Good for Tebany Yune. I like it when writers are blunt about human behavior rather than coddle our crassness and stupidity over and over. I really liked that headline - more of that please:
https://www.inkl.com/news/a-new-report-says-50-billion-years-of-evolution-is-being-threatened-by-stupid-humans
A new report says 50 billion years of evolution is being threatened by stupid humans
Billions of years of evolutionary history are at risk of destruction due to the expansion of human activity, according to researchers with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). This history has been the driving force behind some of Earth's most unique creatures, such as the dinosaur-like Shoebill; the bony-fingered Aye-Aye; and the mohawked Mary River turtle. In a first-of-its-kind study published this week in Nature Communications, the authors highlighted the risk of losing these species to human activity such as agricultural land use, construction and development, the depletion of local resources, and the ever-growing human population.
The researchers measured and mapped this activity into what's called a Human Footprint index. The index reveals areas around the globe where biodiversity is most threatened based on human development, rather than a species' population or physical traits. By combining the use of this index and information about a species' habitat and genetic history, the authors wrote, conservationists can adjust their priorities to focus on the most endangered of endangered species.
Billions of years of evolutionary history are at risk of destruction due to the expansion of human activity, according to researchers with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). This history has been the driving force behind some of Earth's most unique creatures, such as the dinosaur-like Shoebill; the bony-fingered Aye-Aye; and the mohawked Mary River turtle. In a first-of-its-kind study published this week in Nature Communications, the authors highlighted the risk of losing these species to human activity such as agricultural land use, construction and development, the depletion of local resources, and the ever-growing human population.
The researchers measured and mapped this activity into what's called a Human Footprint index. The index reveals areas around the globe where biodiversity is most threatened based on human development, rather than a species' population or physical traits. By combining the use of this index and information about a species' habitat and genetic history, the authors wrote, conservationists can adjust their priorities to focus on the most endangered of endangered species.
[Edit: Oops.. I just noticed a typo (presumably) in that inkl article. Since the earth is around 4 billion years old and the universe is 14(?), that obviously is not correct. But we are still doing what we can:
https://scitechdaily.com/humans-have-erased-3-billion-years-of-evolution-and-its-getting-worse/
Human-driven bird extinctions over the last 130,000 years have cut avian functional diversity and erased 3 billion years of evolution, impacting pollination, pest control, and ecosystems. Understanding these losses is key for future conservation.
]
[Second edit: Well okay-it’s a cumulative metric of some complicated type. I don’t really understand it beyond the obvious gist. I will admit to having been more enrapt by someone calling out our stupid species for a change (over neutral headlines that make it seem as if humans have no culpability):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16410-6
The loss of all threatened turtles (134 species with phylogenetic data) would lead to a loss of 3.4 BY (~41% of turtle PD). The loss of all 1151 threatened lepidosaurs with phylogenetic data would result in the loss of around 9.5 BY (median, 8% of lepidosaur PD). Combined, we stand to lose more than 13.1 billion years (median; range= 12.3–14.3 BY), or
around 10% of total reptile PD. This is 1.36 billion years more PD than if extinctions were randomly distributed within each reptilian order (paired t-test; t= 20.32, d.f.= 99, p < 0.0001).
The potential loss of PD across threatened reptiles is significantly lower than that for amphibians, which stand to lose around 21 BY
of PD (~16% of total PD). Birds stand to lose 6.2 BY (~7% of total PD) and mammals 6.4 BY (~13% of PD). Together, close to 50
billion years of unique tetrapod PD is at risk of extinction (~11% of total PD).
]
around 10% of total reptile PD. This is 1.36 billion years more PD than if extinctions were randomly distributed within each reptilian order (paired t-test; t= 20.32, d.f.= 99, p < 0.0001).
The potential loss of PD across threatened reptiles is significantly lower than that for amphibians, which stand to lose around 21 BY
of PD (~16% of total PD). Birds stand to lose 6.2 BY (~7% of total PD) and mammals 6.4 BY (~13% of PD). Together, close to 50
billion years of unique tetrapod PD is at risk of extinction (~11% of total PD).
And obviously “stupid humans” is not a reference to eugenics. The stupid humans in question are our economists with their Cornucopian, pro-overpopulation, pro-over consumption, pro inane infinite growth models; our crass billionaires etc. These people believe in a law-of-the-jungle libertarian society with junk capitalism, starvation and poverty.
Fewer fucking shopping malls, more family planning and more snap benefits for poor kids/the elderly/the disabled etc. You have to spell these things out for the stupid humans who believe in defunding family planning, defunding birth control access and banning abortion all while keeping food/other resources from the poorest people out there (including children). The stupid people are our leadership class and industrialists. They ensure that lack of education access makes the rest of us closer to them.
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