These days it can be hard to imagine what the future looks like.
There are so many unknowns.
But Vox recently asked a group of scientists to think far, far into the future, and imagine what kinds of creatures might inhabit Earth a million years from now.
I won’t spoil the whole piece, it’s definitely worth reading in full, but the answers are rooted in our understanding of how living things adapt to the world around them.
For example, if carbon levels are still elevated a million years from now, that could lead to lots and lots of plant growth, because plants thrive in conditions where there’s lots of carbon dioxide.
The plants could then pump higher levels of oxygen into the air, and that elevated oxygen could lead to much larger insects than what we see today.
Ants could be the size of small birds, or dragonflies the size of large ones.
There could also be larger predators, depending on whether humans or a descendant of humans is around.
And then there are the creatures that seem to just linger no matter what’s going on.
The scientists say we should probably expect that rats will find ways to survive, along with pigeons, and cockroaches.
And, obviously, a million years from now Keith Richards will still be around.
Pretty sure nothing can stop him.
Today is the first day of City Climb at Edge.
That’s a program in New York City where thrillseekers can climb stairs and stairs and more stairs until they’re close to the top of a skyscraper, over 1,200 feet up.
Outdoors.
Harnessed in, but outdoors.
I think the rest of us will stay close to the ground.
The animals that may exist in a million years, imagined by biologists (Vox)
Now You Can Climb Outside a Skyscraper to the Top of New York City (Architectural Digest)