The Incredible Shrinking Human

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In the past few weeks, we’ve heard about how climate change is threatening:

Now it’s apparently also threatening the global height balance—and in turn the power dynamics of the World Cup and professional basketball. Steve LeVine explains in Foreign Policy:

According to a report in Nature Climate Change, two researchers at the National University of Singapore have found that species are shrinking with the march of climate change — including humans. “Reduced food supplies are likely to mean that animals at the top of their food chains — including humans — will grow to smaller sizes, have fewer offspring, and be more vulnerable to disease,” writes the Daily Telegraph, reporting on the study.

Studies have shown that global warming will affect regions of the Earth differently — some countries will see stark affects, and others won’t. Applying that concept, one over time could find soccer or basketball players who grow up in drought-stricken regions — say, the state of Texas (the Dallas Mavericks’s current crop is pictured above) — outclassed by athletes from currently underrated, rain-drenched locales such as the Indian state of Assam. Scouts pay attention.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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Our news will always be free to read, watch, and listen to online. But what is its value?

Unbiased reporting on the issues that billionaire-owned newsrooms won’t touch. Fearless research into the dark corners of government and corporations. Ferociously fact-checked news that focuses on the facts, and the facts alone.

It IS free for you and every reader, viewer, and listener to utilize. But it’s not free for our team to make. So, what’s it worth to you? Let us know by making a donation: Make a one-time donation today to support this work. Or make a monthly sustaining donation to help us plan for the future.

Whatever you choose, know that you’re supporting more independent, investigative journalism in a time when we need it most.

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