IMAGE: WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
Human-made materials outweigh living things
A Weizmann Institute of Science study has revealed the mass of human-made objects has surpassed that of life on Earth. The scientists behind the findings hope they’ll serve as a wake-up call
2020 The year the mass of all human-produced materials and objects — also called anthropogenic mass — surpassed natural biomass, according to a study published by Prof Ron Milo’s lab, from the Institute’s Plant and Environmental Sciences Department. In other words, all the concrete, steel, glass, plastic and other artifacts humans have created now outweigh all plants, animals and other living things on the planet.
The Weizmann Institute of Science campus in Rehovot
Three to 100 The comparative amount of anthropogenic mass versus biomass at the outset of the 20th century. So, how did the situation escalate to critical levels in just a little over 100 years? On the one hand, humans quadrupled. On the other, the materials and objects we produce have far outpaced that population growth: today, on average, for each person on the globe, a quantity of anthropogenic mass greater than their body weight is produced every week.
When exposed to environmental stress
conditions, the cells formed two distinct groups: many initiated emergency cell death programs — in short, they committed suicide; yet, a few were able to acclimatize. The same split occurred with experiments conducted on genetically identical cells: even when cells start out with the same survival chances, only a few will survive. These varying reactions have probably
developed as a sort of evolutionary bet-hedging — a unique life cycle in which the survival of the few enables the species as a whole to survive. PhD student Avia Mizrachi discovered light
exposure and antioxidant capacity are likely two of the factors determining a cell’s fate. She’s now working to see which other chemical cues and genetic programs can be the difference between life or death for algal blooms in the ocean. Vardi’s lab aims to understand how decisions
that occur on an individual cell level in the ocean can go on to affect global processes. And it’s precisely the ability they’ve developed to look into cells at this microscopic resolution that’s enabling them to do just that.
Research at the Plant and Environmental Sciences Department focuses on the role of plants in the interaction between humanity and the biosphere
20 years The rate at which the weight of human-made mass is doubling — and the curve isn’t flattening. The process has been gradual, but the consequences are now clear. The findings are further proof we may have entered a new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene — an age defined by human actions.
Over two teratonnes The weight that human-made mass is predicted to reach by 2040, if we continue as we are. That’s over two million million — more than double the mass of all living things, which currently equals approximately 1.1 teratonnes. According to the authors of the study, the
findings should wake us up to humanity’s responsibility to the planet. Our global footprint has now expanded far beyond our shoe size: the collective action that can come from such a realization can make a difference.
To see a visual representation of the data, head online to
anthropomass.org
2022 | Israeli Academia 31
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