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Science

hue

(4,949 posts) Wed Feb 22, 2012, 03:48 PM Feb 2012

Male Y chromosome extinction theory challenged

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17127617

Men may not become extinct after all, according to a new study.

Previous research has suggested the Y sex chromosome, which only men carry, is decaying genetically so fast that it will be extinct in five million years' time.

A gene within the chromosome is the switch which leads to testes development and the secretion of male hormones.

But a new US study in Nature suggests the genetic decay has all but ended.