Have you ever pondered over the sheer numbers that define our existence? With over 8 billion people populating our planet today, it's a stark contrast to a time when humanity's survival hung by a thread. Approximately 900,000 years ago, our ancient ancestors faced a crisis so profound that their population dwindled to a mere 1,280 individuals. Imagine that – a single village, a whisper of a town, left alone on an entire planet. This was the moment when the human race encountered its most critical bottleneck, with nearly 98% of our ancestors vanishing into the annals of history. What could have led to such a catastrophic decline?