Questões de Inglês

Some politicians and businesses say that the evidence for climate change is not conclusive or that, at the least, any changes are not anthropogenic – caused by human activity. For some, the idea of climate change is a hoax. But around the world, almost all scientists – 97 percent by some estimates – believe that climate change is real, and many say deforestation and the rampant burning of fossil fuels, among other causes, have increased the level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. These gases trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Some politicians and businesses say that the evidence for climate change is not conclusive or that, at the least, any changes are not anthropogenic – caused by human activity. For some, the idea of climate change is a hoax. But around the world, almost all scientists – 97 percent by some estimates – believe that climate change is real, and many say deforestation and the rampant burning of fossil fuels, among other causes, have increased the level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. These gases trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Humans are willful creatures. No other species on the planet has gained so much mastery over its own fate. We have neutralized countless threats that once killed us in the millions: we have learned to protect ourselves from the elements and predators in the wild; we have developed cures and treatments for many deadly diseases; we have transformed the small gardens of our agrarian ancestors into the vast fields of industrial agriculture; and we have dramatically increased our chances of bearing healthy children despite all the usual difficulties. Many people argue that our technological advancement – our ability to defy and control nature – has made humans exempt from natural selection and that human evolution has effectively ceased. There is no “survival of the fittest,” the argument goes, if just about everyone survives into old age. This notion is more than just a stray thought in the public consciousness. Professional scientists such as Steven Jones of University College London and respected science communicators such as David Attenborough have also declared that human evolution is over.

But it is not. We have evolved in our recent past, and we will continue to do so as long as we are around. If we take the more than seven million years since humans split from our last common ancestor with chimpanzees and convert it to a 24-hour day, the past 30,000 years would take about a mere six minutes. Yet much has unfolded during this last chapter of our evolution: Vast migrations into new environments, dramatic changes in diet and a more than 1,000-fold increase in global population. All those new people added many unique mutations to the total population. The result was a pulse of rapid natural selection. Human evolution is not stopping. If anything, it is accelerating.

John Hawks, Scientific American: Innovators, June/July 2015

In the past quarter-century, the proportion of women in the workforce has risen more in Latin America than in any other region. True, they typically hold jobs that require little skill and pay low salaries: domestic work is the largest source of female employment. But women now spend more years in school than men, which suggests that their prospects will improve. A handful have climbed to the top of the corporate ladder. […]

In the past quarter-century, the proportion of women in the workforce has risen more in Latin America than in any other region. True, they typically hold jobs that require little skill and pay low salaries: domestic work is the largest source of female employment. But women now spend more years in school than men, which suggests that their prospects will improve. A handful have climbed to the top of the corporate ladder. […]