I don’t follow closely, but one of the truisms of human genetics has been the impact of the Toba Eruption.
DNA studies seem to show modern humans are descended from a smaller than expected number of people. We seem to have lost some of the genetic diversity we would be expected to have.
One possible explanation is that there was a point in human history, maybe about 50 thousand to 100 thousand years ago, when the number of humans dropped dramatically. The cause of the drop was perhaps the eruption of the Toba Supervolcano about 75 thousand years ago. Fun, fun.
But no. Now they’re thinking maybe not.
I’m sad to lose such an interesting theory, but it is what it is.
- PBS Eon, “How a Supervolcano Ignited an Evolutionary Debate,” YouTube, Sept. 23, 2021.