Scientists propose to send millions of sperms, eggs to moon as ‘Global Insurance Policy’

Overwhelmed by fear of catastrophic extinction, scientists have now proposed to deposit the sperms and eggs of about 6.7 million earthly species on the moon. The idea to create a full-fledged ‘sperm bank’ on the lunar surface was proposed by researchers from the University of Arizona, who in their paper, called it ‘modern global insurance policy'. Supporting their idea, the team told the IEEE Aerospace Conference that it could help save species in case a catastrophe strikes the planet. 

“As humans, we had a close call about 75,000 years ago with the Toba supervolcanic eruption, which caused a 1,000-year cooling period and, according to some, aligns with an estimated drop in human diversity. Because human civilization has such a large footprint, if it were to collapse, that could have a negative cascading effect on the rest of the planet,” an excerpt from the paper read. 

Inspired by Noah's ark

The idea inspired by Noah’s ark proposes the bank to be created underneath the moon’s surface.  It further suggests the microscopic cells be stored cryogenically, that is under extremely lower temperatures. In addition to sperms and eggs, researchers also proposed to store frozen seeds and spores. 

_{The proposed ark, Credits: University of Arizona}

Thanga highlighted climate change as the main concern, especially as it contributes to rising sea levels. A deadly global pandemic and large-scale nuclear war are two other major possibilities that Doomsday Clock researchers cite for catastrophic disasters. Despite a dramatically variable surface temperature, Moon, located 238,855 miles away from earth, has no such problems, researchers justified. 

Last year, NASA confirmed that its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has found water trapped inside the sunlit surface of the Moon, implying the possibility of life on earth's natural satellite. Confirming that there could be more water on the moon than previously thought of, NASA said, water is not limited to cold, shadowed lunar places but instead is distributed across the entire lunar surface.