Experts

Artist and Scientist Quest to Answer How Will Humans Look Like in 100,000 Years

By Jennifer Broderick | Update Date: Jun 13, 2013 01:13 AM EDT

As the advance in science and technology help enlighten us about our past, some are using it to answer questions about our future.

One of these wondering men is visual artist Nickolay Lamm of Pittsburgh, Pa. Lamm has been wondering about how humans might look in, say, 100, 000 years, and using technology he was able to come up with some answers.

It certainly doesn't sound like a question easy to answer, and Lamm, of course, could use some help.

"Because I'm not expert in evolution, [I] got in touch with Dr. [Alan] Kwan who gave me his educated guess at what we may look like," Lamm said in an interview to FoxNews.

Lamm worked with Dr. Kwan, a PhD in computational genomics from Washington University, and together they established "one possible timeline" to future human evolution of sorts.

"It's not science," Kwan confessed, "just a thought experiment -- but it's fascinating to think about."

Based on the assumption that by the 210th century, scientists will be able to modify human appearances before birth through zygotic genome engineering technology, the two compiled a set of changes they believe human appearances will go under.

The results of their study was published in the journal MyVoucherCodes.co.uk.

Kwan built his theory on the foundation that between 800,000 and 200,000 years ago, the Earth underwent a period of fluctuation in its climate, which resulted in a tripling of the human brain, as well as skull size.

It's agreed among scientists that the rapid changes in climate may have created a favorable environment for those with the ability to adapt to new challenges and situations. 

And as part of this trend, British scientists have found that modern humans have less prominent features and higher foreheads than people during medieval times.

"My goal is to get people talking and thinking about things they otherwise wouldn't have. For example, this 'Future Face' project is getting people talking about whether or not something like 'Gattaca' may happen," Lamm said, referring to the 1997 movie starring Ethan Hawke.

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