martians might really exist
in the future
but instead of the aliens of sci-fi
movies martians would be humans born and
raised on mars
and in this episode you're one of them
why would your skin be orange
would you be a different species
and would you ever be able to visit
earth
this is what if and here's what would
happen if you were born on mars
some of our previous episodes have
already looked at what it would take to
live on mars but that's only half the
story
to create a stable settlement on the red
planet people would have to start having
babies
how many people would we need to create
a healthy
non-inbred population
well some say we'd only need 98 people
but others say we'd need a minimum of 10
000
but regardless of the size of the
breeding population
it would only take a few generations
before we started seeing a huge
difference between earthlings and
martians
mars is the most earth-like planet in
the solar system but it's not exactly
like the earth
its gravity atmosphere and magnetic
field would create serious challenges
for human life
and challenges often go hand in hand
with evolution
children on earth are born with up to
120 genetic mutations
move those babies to mars and they would
start having mutations suitable for
martian living
and those mutations would likely pass on
to their children
by the time we settle on mars we'll
probably have the ability to modify our
own genes
putting martian evolution on the fast
track
so if you were born in the third or
fourth generation of martians
you would be a lot different than you
are today
but what are the main reasons why your
body would change
well first there's gravity
mars only has one third of earth's
gravity so your bones wouldn't
experience the same force
your bones would lose their density and
become more brittle breaking them would
become a common issue
then there's the atmosphere
on earth you're used to a dense
atmosphere that mostly contains nitrogen
and oxygen but on mars you'd be
experiencing a thin atmosphere that's
mostly carbon dioxide with only trace
amounts of oxygen
you wouldn't be able to evolve a whole
new respiratory system but you could
develop other ways of dealing with the
lack of oxygen like you could have
denser capillaries that are more
efficient at moving blood and
transporting oxygen to your muscles
but even with these advances you'd still
have to live underground or in a thickly
insulated house to survive the harsh
atmosphere
and since life on mars would be confined
to small spaces martians wouldn't need
to be able to see far into the distance
yeah you would be born nearsighted
and finally there's the radiation
earth has a strong magnetic field that
protects us from lethal solar radiation
but mars has a weak magnetic field
that's scattered along the planet
on earth our bodies produce melanin it
protects us from the radiation that does
make it through earth's magnetic field
but the radiation on mars would be much
stronger and
melanin
just wouldn't cut it
instead your skin would produce
carotenoids
this pigment would help protect you
against skin cancer by slowing or
stopping the cell cycle
carotenoids can even make melanoma cells
self-destruct
they're also what gives carrots their
vivid orange coloring yeah in other
words your skin would be
orange so with all these changes to your
body would you be able to visit earth
well
mars wouldn't have the same type of
bacteria and viruses that the earth does
so your immune system would be weaker
than that of an earthlings which means
earth could be a dangerous place for you
and even if your immune system were
strong the gravity of earth would be too
much for your brittle bones
if you were born on mars you'd probably
have to stay there
humans have looked the same for a very
long time but within a few generations
of living on mars we could have orange
near-sighted humans who could survive on
less oxygen
and once we successfully settle on mars
we probably wouldn't stop there
in the future humans could have
settlements on all sorts of planets even
outside the solar system
you know
what if all aliens whom we're so excited
and terrified to meet are just future
versions of humans
well
that's a story
for another
what if
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