Want to find future tech for megawatt-class laser beams in next-generation weapon systems? The Navy. These guys do some cool stuff and are making even cooler toys to do it with. But hopefully thatвЂ™s not going to happen.In case you don't know it, the Navy is not the 1970s 'Village People' branch of the military. вЂњI think if you were a rhino, an elephant, a lion, a platypus, a koala, you probably would want humans to be gone. вЂњYou might say, are other mammals better off if humans were not around? And you know, frankly, probably, yeah,вЂќ he said.

However, Brusatte says that while humans are an amazing species, other mammals may be better off without us. We wear clothes, we have got heating, we have got air conditioning if it is too hot.вЂќ вЂњIf that was going to happen, youвЂ™d need to find large people dying before they could reproduce because of climate warming. вЂњWe are not really controlled by natural selection,вЂќ he said. Lister is also sceptical that humans will shrink as the climate heats. Prof Adrian Lister, of the Natural History Museum in London, said the relationship shown by the recent human remains study is weak, while the strong correlations between temperature and mammal body size may often be down to the availability of food and resources. However, not all experts agree that rising temperature causes mammals to shrink. In a recent study, researchers studying human remains over the past million years have also suggested that temperature is a major predictor of body size variation, while scientists studying red deer have said that warmer winters in northern Europe and Scandinavia may lead to the body size of these animals becoming smaller. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The GuardianД«rusatte argued that other human species have been found to shrink when resources were scarce вЂ“ pointing to the so-called hobbit humans, Homo floresiensis, which once inhabited the island of Flores in Indonesia. Prof Steve Brusatte has written a new book, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals. Which does raise the question: if temperatures do spike really quickly might humans dwarf, might humans get smaller? And I think thatвЂ™s certainly plausible.вЂќ He added: вЂњThatвЂ™s not to say every species of mammal would get smaller, but it seems to be a common survival trick of mammals when temperatures spike pretty quickly. Speaking to the Guardian before the publication of the book, Brusatte said that becoming smaller was вЂњa common way that mammals deal with climate changeвЂќ. вЂњThe reasons are not entirely understood, but it is probably, in part, because smaller animals have a higher surface area relative to their volume than plumper animals and can thus better shed excess heat,вЂќ he writes. Writing in The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, Brusatte notes that animals in warmer parts of the world today are often smaller than those in colder areas, an ecological principle known as BergmannвЂ™s rule. вЂњThe two plots are eerie, how similar they are.вЂќ вЂњThereвЂ™s a great fossil record across this global warming event, itвЂ™s really the most recent big global warming event in the geological record,вЂќ he said.

He likened the potential plight of people as similar to that of early horses, which became smaller in body size as temperatures rose around 55m years ago, a period called the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.

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