All living species on Earth, even microscopic viruses compete with each other for space and resources in order to survive and reproduce. Some viruses are exceptionally aggressive in expanding and using resources so that they cease to exist because they consume all resources. The “virus” Homo sapience is not an exception. It leaves fewer and fewer places on the planet for wild flora and fauna. Larger organisms are especially vulnerable to the ferocious “virus” Homo sapience. Smaller organisms are more lucky and have more chances to avoid the lethal weapons of cunning biped predators. Life on the planet becomes smaller in size…

About 25,000 years ago, Homo sapience began to actively explore and occupy the planet and use its resources. Humans destroyed about half of all terrestrial species of mammals weighting over 45 pounds. Mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, giant sloths, beavers, as well as many other representatives of mega fauna became extinct as the result of direct and indirect actions of humans.

Anthony Barnosky, an ecologist at the University of California at Berkeley, says that most species of large mammals disappeared during the time interval of 4000 years, which ended about 11,000 years ago. During that period, Australia has lost 88% of the species diversity of large mammals, South America – 83%, North America – 72%. Africa and Eurasia lost only one in five and a one in three species of large mammals respectively.

P.S. Jared Diamond in his book target=”_blank”"Guns, Germs and Steel. The fate of human societies” explained this latest animal extinction by the fact that people inhabited Australia and the Americas relatively recently and already possessed developed weapons and hunting techniques. Animals simply were not ready for the sudden appearance of a new predator. As opposed to Australia and Americas, humans were present in Africa and Eurasia for a very long time and had much more time to gradually adopt the modernization of weapons of Homo sapience.

The world, as we know it, will change. This is inevitable. There are only two simple choices that are available to all biological species at harder times: either change or die. Humans as a biological species face the very same choice. The change is going to be either biological or technological. It is possible to slow harsh natural selection, as we just did through science and technology, but genetic changes are accumulating in the population in the background and one day will reveal themselves in an ugly way. As we are canceling natural selection, human population becomes more and more diverse, meaning sick and weak. Natural selection has to be replaced with artificial selection and use of intelligent approaches to improve the genetics of Homo sapience. We will also learn to use different sources of energy and use different habitats to live. All these changes are noticeable even today.

Professionals from a small American biomedical company Medicinal Genomics managed to complete genome sequencing of Cannabis sativa or marijuana.

Scientists argue that this is a big step forward in the treatment of various diseases and mental disorders. Naturally, it was not easy to complete this project. The cost of the project was more than $ 200 000. Scientists also used public cloud computing service Amazon EC2 to assemble numerous short sequencing data into a complete DNA sequence of marijuana genome. Company executive Kevin Makernan said that “clean version” of this work is not yet ready and therefore at the moment there is no publications containing marijuana genome sequence.

The work has sparkled a discussion whether it will lead to new therapeutic applications or to the development and spread of more potent illegal drugs. Makernan sais that this work is not about marijuana and legal issues, but the pharmacological properties of the plant. Indeed, until now, pharmaceutical use of marijuana was limited to a small number of oncologic and other patients having chronic severe pain. Scientists have not look at Cannabis as a source of pharmacological drugs until now. The reason is stereotypes associated with marijuana as nothing more than a drug. In fact, the presence of narcotic substances in marijuana is what makes it a wonderful medicinal herb.

At the moment, the main objective of pharmaceutical companies is to enhance the therapeutic effect of the plant as well as maximize its psychoactive properties that could be used in medicine. Cannabis can produce chemical compounds that are classified as alkaloids. The most valuable of the chemicals is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This is the substance that makes a direct effect on the human mind. The most strong painkillers and many other useful compounds might be created on the basis of THC. “We know which genes govern [production of] CBD and THC, but not the other 83 compounds,” says McKernan. It is possible now to experiment with legal marijuana genes in laboratory settings without need of growing illegal marijuana plants.