Our Body Parts That Will Be Unrecognizable in 100 Years

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Ever wondered what humans might look like in 100 years? Some scientists think our bodies could change in surprising ways! With all the time we spend on screens, our eyes might get bigger or even develop new features to handle all that blue light. Our fingers could become more nimble to keep up with typing and swiping. Who knows, we might even have different shaped spines because of all the sitting we do! And with technology advancing, some body parts could be replaced by cool gadgets or implants.

Transcript

00:00You wake up a hundred years from now and things are weird.

00:04Your body feels different.

00:05You check the mirror and, yep, it's true.

00:08You've got a second eyelid and no body hair?

00:11Sounds like sci-fi, but nope.

00:13There's actual science behind it.

00:16Think about how often you check your phone.

00:19A lot, right?

00:20Well, this might be why you have that second eyelid now.

00:23As screens took over our lives,

00:25we evolved this extra eyelid to filter out harmful blue light

00:28and reduce eye strain.

00:30Future U blinks and a translucent shield covers your eyes.

00:35It's like nature's way of protecting us from all that digital glare.

00:38Downside?

00:39We all look a bit more like robots.

00:42Now, Americans spend about seven hours a day on the internet.

00:46Some researchers took this info and ran with it.

00:49Meet Mindy, the 3D model of humans a hundred years from now.

00:54She's got the lowdown on what constant phone checking

00:56and endless office hours have done to us.

00:58Mindy's got an arched back, a thicker skull, a smaller brain,

01:03a 90-degree elbow, and something called a text claw.

01:07That doesn't feel right, does it?

01:10All those hours looking down at your phone strain your neck muscles and mess with your spine.

01:15But the text claws?

01:17That's next-level weird.

01:19This mutation comes from always holding your smartphone.

01:22And those elbows?

01:23Permanently bent at 90 degrees, like some kind of stiff Barbie doll.

01:28Imagine trying to navigate crowded streets, bumping into people left and right.

01:33And body hair?

01:35We might lose it all in the future, but this is actually a pretty mysterious subject.

01:40Let's rewind the tape a bit.

01:41You've probably heard that body hair was used to protect us from harsh weather.

01:46One thing scientists have discovered is that our ancestors that started shedding hair

01:50had some pretty good advantages.

01:53The ones who lost the hair on their palms or wrists could handle stone tools and machinery

01:57way better than the other ones.

01:59There's also a famous theory known as the aquatic ape theory, which explains one reason for that.

02:06Like hippos and dolphins, we turned off the genes that produce fur.

02:10This idea suggests that our human ancestors that lived on the savannas of Africa

02:15migrated to oases during drier seasons.

02:19During these seasons, they hunted in shallow waters.

02:21And well, it turns out that hair is not a very good insulator in water.

02:25So our species lost their fur and developed a layer of fat.

02:31The question remains, in the future, will we deactivate these genes altogether and become

02:36totally hairless?

02:37Guess we'll have to wait and see.

02:40Geneticists are worried about something big.

02:43Humans becoming too alike.

02:46There's a scientific risk of human alikeness or grand averaging.

02:50Open any social media app and you'll see it.

02:53Everyone dresses the same, talks the same, yada yada.

02:57But this sameness could halt human evolution.

03:00Evolution depends on genetic differences and passing them on.

03:04Over time, these differences should change the population.

03:08If the changes are big enough, a new species arises.

03:11But the three components needed for evolution,

03:14variation, natural selection, and geographic isolation,

03:17are pretty much fading away.

03:19Scientists call humans a single genetic continent,

03:23mixing and no longer breeding within cultural or ethnic groups.

03:28Given enough time, we might all start to look more alike.

03:33Here's a good one.

03:34Humans will develop to live longer, much longer than we do now.

03:37All along our evolution,

03:40we've been subject to external factors that determined our lifespan.

03:44Back in the Stone Ages and stuff,

03:46we were subject to dangerous predators

03:48or the encounter with other tribes

03:50other than ours that could harm us.

03:53As people would normally pass away at quite a young age,

03:56they had little room to develop important mutations.

03:59But when humans' mortality rates are lowered,

04:02the opposite happens.

04:04In the past two centuries,

04:06life expectancy soared to 70 years worldwide.

04:10The constant scientific development leads us to think

04:12humans might naturally evolve

04:15to live an average life of 100 years and more.

04:18Our lazy lifestyles are messing with our spines.

04:22We might end up with fewer vertebrae

04:24and shorter, bendier backs,

04:26making back pain less of a pain

04:28and perfect for our desk jobs.

04:30Future humans could be total slouchers,

04:33with standing tall becoming super rare.

04:36You know, all this talk is making me want to go for a walk.

04:40Since we're talking about lifestyle,

04:42we need to talk about food.

04:44All the processed soft foods we're eating

04:46are changing how we chew.

04:48Back in the day, when our bodies were taking form,

04:51we used to eat raw meat and plants.

04:53A study actually shows that the lower jaw

04:56reflected whether a population

04:57was primarily a hunter-gatherer

05:00or agriculturalist in nature.

05:02About 7 million years ago,

05:04our ancestors had long jaws

05:06and a face that projected forward.

05:09What do our jaws reflect about us

05:11now that our food is so soft?

05:13Some predictions say that 100 plus years from now,

05:16humans might have smaller mouths

05:18with fewer teeth and weaker jaws.

05:20This also means that our faces will be smaller,

05:23without much chin.

05:25Our jaws tucked in a wee bit more.

05:29Pollution isn't just bad for the planet,

05:31it's changing us too.

05:33Future generations might get bigger nostrils

05:36and better lungs to deal with bad air quality.

05:39Imagine humans with super-powered breathing systems

05:42thriving in polluted environments.

05:45Breathing in the future will be a whole new ballgame.

05:47These predictions might sound wild,

05:51but they're based on scientific theories.

05:54As our environment and lifestyles change,

05:56so will our bodies,

05:57in fascinating and terrifying ways.

06:01Next time you look in the mirror,

06:02remember you're seeing the human body

06:04as it is today,

06:05but who knows what it'll look like tomorrow?

06:08Embrace the mystery of our evolving selves.

06:11Humans might lose their palmaris longus muscle,

06:17that tiny tendon in your wrist

06:19that many people don't even realize they have.

06:22It's pretty much the appendix of muscles,

06:24completely unnecessary.

06:26As we evolve,

06:27we'll likely say goodbye to this little tendon

06:29because we're not swinging from trees

06:31or doing intense grip exercises anymore.

06:34Our hands are occupied with texting,

06:37typing,

06:37and swiping.

06:38So in a few generations,

06:40we might look at our smooth,

06:41tendon-free wrists and think,

06:43evolution really Marie Kondo'd our muscles.

06:46Love your toes much?

06:48Well, then you can bid one of them farewell.

06:50Our toes help us keep our balance when we're walking.

06:54Research shows that our balance is shifting inwards.

06:57If our ancestors used to rely on all their toes for balance,

07:00we ourselves don't use all of them as much.

07:03This means that we'll need our pinky toes less and less.

07:07And if this trend keeps up,

07:08it won't be long before we bid them goodbye.

07:12Okay, so there's something called directed evolution,

07:15which literally means science replacing nature.

07:19Instead of leaving it to the hands of destiny or fate,

07:22why not decide our own future?

07:24We kind of already do that

07:26when we choose a partner out of appearance

07:28or personality traits.

07:30For thousands of years,

07:31hunter-gatherers arranged marriages

07:33seeking good hunters for their daughters.

07:36But I'm talking about stuff done in laboratories.

07:39From now onwards,

07:40we have the power to control the genes of our offspring.

07:43Science can screen for genetic mutations.

07:46It can also choose an embryo

07:47with a particular eye color

07:49and things like that.

07:50Yep, DNA control is a thing of the future.

07:55If you think it doesn't get more bizarre than that,

07:58wait for this.

07:59Someone asked an AI to mock up some pictures

08:02of what humans will look like a thousand years from now.

08:05According to this AI software,

08:07our faces will be covered in a web of wiring motors.

08:11It's like a crossover between Frankenstein and the Terminator.

08:15Perhaps this is the beauty standard of the future.

08:17Yikes!

08:19Meet Graham.

08:20Graham is a distant descendant of humanity

08:22whose body has evolved to survive a car crash.

08:24He isn't a CG model.

08:27He's a life-size statue made of silicon

08:29and real human hair.

08:31Graham is a piece of modern art.

08:33He's a speculation of what human bodies look like

08:35in the years ahead.

08:37Graham was created for a road safety campaign.

08:40But this artist depicts hyper-realistic humanoids

08:43in many different forms,

08:45even possible hybrids between humans and other species.

08:48It looks pretty weird at first.

08:50But I mean, at this rate,

08:52anything seems possible for our collective future.

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