10 'Astounding' Science Facts That Aren't Very Astounding If You're A Pedant

6. If You Don't Have Children, You'd Be The First Of Your Ancestors To Do So

Since the dawn of human existence, humans have reproduced. Turns out, they've continued to do that right up until now. That's about the net worth of this fact. This one has an extra irritating twist in that it's part fact and part accusation. It seems to say that should you fail in your humanly duties, a great and noble lineage would end, and it would be all your fault. At its heart, it's this supremely romantic idea of lineage going back in a fairly straight line, perhaps gracefully arcing out into a so called 'family-tree'. The truth is that go back far enough, you're practically related to everyone, hence all the relatives of Genghis Khan and other ... uh ... rapey historical figures. Think of it more as a 'family shrubbery' where all the shrubs are tangled together, and everything's so brown you can't tell which parts are shrub and which parts are mud. That's what's at stake here.