Molly Webster

Actually, up until they figured this out about the whales, scientists widely believed that menopause was a uniquely human thing.

Really?

Out of like 6,000 some species of mammals, they thought we were the only ones.

And freaks because if you think about it scientifically, menopause is actually very weird.

Is this sort of you saying like this is weird or do you think scientists are like, yo, this is weird?

Okay, so this is a scientist.

His name is Kevin.

And Kevin says from an evolutionary point of view, no animal should have what he calls the substantial post-reproductive lifespan.

Substantial post-reproductive lifespan.

Fun phrase.

I asked him if we could say something more fun, and he said no.

No.

Anyway, the point is, it's the living for a long time after you can no longer reproduce.

That's the weird part.

And if you're not having babies, you're not sending your genes into the next generation.

And is natural selection really that cut and dry that it's if you're not contributing to the genetic pool, you should be out?

Like, think about it this way.

If there were a human woman who could keep having babies for her whole life until she dies, she would genetically at least outcompete the women who can't.

So it sort of seems like there should be some evolutionary genetic reason for the reproductive system to kind of peter out before the human person does.

Now, one of the most common things people say when they hear about this is that in humans, this is kind of like a fluke of modern life.