According to researchers at the University of Michigan, the size of future generations will reduce significantly as an evolutionary response to global warming. Historical data, they say, shows that the size of mammals decreased substantially during the two ancient planetary warming events, including the “thermal maximum period” 55 million years ago. The cause of this shrinking is not fully understood, but it’s thought that plants may be less nutritious when atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are higher.
So should we start preparing for a world of munchkins? Would it be wise to start lowering high shelves now? And what else does evolution have in store for the future of our species? Time to hit the books.
• If evolutionary theory is only a distant, school-days memory, turn to Life Ascending: The Ten Great Innovations of Evolution by Nick Lane, for a refresher course. Evolution is the beautifully simple phenomenon that created natural complexities, including DNA, photosynthesis, the eye and human consciousness, says Lane – and the evidence for it is irrefutable.
• So what might evolution have in store for us? For some answers, read The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond. With the world's population now doubling every 40 years, says Diamond, we will soon reach the limit of planet Earth's ability to sustain us. The subsequent struggle for survival could give rise to an evolutionary surge that will see a new kind of human emerge (no news here, though, on how the new shorter breed of human will fair in this epic struggle for survival).
• For a really vivid portrait of one possible future for humanity, turn to fiction. The Canadian author Margaret Atwood's speculative classic Oryx and Crake imagines a dystopian future after the collapse of civilisation, in which strange human-like creatures called Crakers share what is left of the Earth with a handful of humans. Atwood's inspiration came partly from trips to the Arctic, where she observed first-hand the effects of global warming.
[ artslife@thenational.ae ]
Small Things Like These
Director: Tim Mielants
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Eileen Walsh
Rating: 4/5
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
Bloomsbury Academic
Forced Deportations
While the Lebanese government has deported a number of refugees back to Syria since 2011, the latest round is the first en-mass campaign of its kind, say the Access Center for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization which monitors the conditions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“In the past, the Lebanese General Security was responsible for the forced deportation operations of refugees, after forcing them to sign papers stating that they wished to return to Syria of their own free will. Now, the Lebanese army, specifically military intelligence, is responsible for the security operation,” said Mohammad Hasan, head of ACHR.
In just the first four months of 2023 the number of forced deportations is nearly double that of the entirety of 2022.
Since the beginning of 2023, ACHR has reported 407 forced deportations – 200 of which occurred in April alone.
In comparison, just 154 people were forcfully deported in 2022.
Violence
Instances of violence against Syrian refugees are not uncommon.
Just last month, security camera footage of men violently attacking and stabbing an employee at a mini-market went viral. The store’s employees had engaged in a verbal altercation with the men who had come to enforce an order to shutter shops, following the announcement of a municipal curfew for Syrian refugees.
“They thought they were Syrian,” said the mayor of the Nahr el Bared municipality, Charbel Bou Raad, of the attackers.
It later emerged the beaten employees were Lebanese. But the video was an exemplary instance of violence at a time when anti-Syrian rhetoric is particularly heated as Lebanese politicians call for the return of Syrian refugees to Syria.
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Omania, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m
Winner: Brehaan, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez
6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
Winner: Craving, Connor Beasley, Simon Crisford
6.30pm: The President’s Cup Prep (PA) Dh100,000 2,200m
Winner: Rmmas, Tadhg O’Shea, Jean de Roualle
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 1,200m
Winner: Dahess D’Arabie, Connor Beasley, Helal Al Alawi
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: Fertile De Croate, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel
Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”