Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
monkeys have swollen greatly in size compared with ours. They consist
of four distinct chambers. We too have four regions in our stomachs: the
fundus that nestles against our esophagus, followed by the main body, the
antrum, and fi nally the pylorus that leads to the small intestine. But in us
these regions are not anatomically distinct. They would need to be separated
before our stomachs could function like those of the langurs.
Our fi rst two chambers, the fundus and the main body, could in theory
be increased in size and modifi ed to secrete less acid and make them more
bacteria-friendly. Then our antrum could be pinched and narrowed, to sepa-
rate the fermentative from the digestive stomach, and the pylorus could be
modifi ed to digest the bacteria and the products of fermentation. In carrying
out these modifi cations we would simply be recapitulating the evolution of
the langur's complicated stomach from the single-chambered stomachs of
its non-fermenting ancestors.
Of course we would have to resign ourselves to a change in lifestyle. We
would have to come up with ways to make the
New York Times
palatable, even
tempting, after we have fi nished reading it. This might be done through the
use of spiced or exotically fl avored inks. There could be jalapeño and nacho
cheese editions. Our stomachs would also swell embarrassingly, and we
would have to get used to frequent, conversation-halting, methane-bearing
eructations. Topics of etiquette would have to be amended accordingly.
But would these drastic physiological changes help with the planetary
food shortage? Cellulose is certainly plentiful, but like our current food
supply it is not unlimited. The world produces about 300 million metric
tons of paper and paper products every year. If we could eat it all and fer-
ment it without waste, we could support a population of about 6 billion
people, roughly the world's current population, at about 2,000 calories a
day.
But 100% ei ciency is never achievable. If a still-respectable 50% of the
cellulose in paper could be converted to food energy, this would only be
enough to support half of the world's current population on an adequate
diet. And of course our population is heading towards nine billion by the
middle of the century, making a cellulose solution to the world's food prob-
lem even less practical.
