All blue-eyed people share one common ancestor

A University of Copenhagen team has identified the gene which around 6-10,000 years ago underwent a genetic mutation in one individual who eventually gave rise to all blue-eyed people. Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine began his research in 1996, when he "first implicated the OCA2 gene as …

[Michael Jolly]

Cool..

this means I am a mutant and my power is .... blues eyes, hmmm okay not a as good as I hoped.

[Liam O'Flaherty]

I don't waste much protein on occular pigment either, do I win a prize?

Spontaneous Genetic mutation ROCKS! It's probably controlled by a few genes, the amount of pigment here. On a lighter note, it's a lovely day isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Evolution leaps forward...

"Eiberg noted that the blue eyes mutation is neither "positive nor negative", since it doesn't affect chances of survival"

I thought chances of survival and a mutation succeeding was not just down to chances of survival, but also successful breeding. If it was an unwanted mutation, our ancestors at the time would not have been attracted to the new eyes?

[stuart]

and he calls himself a scientist...

One thing which really get to me is statements like “Originally, we all had brown eyes" - how the fiking hell does this guy know that? has been alive from the beginning of time? probably not. Scientists of all people should know that nothing is ever 100% proven (only probable to a degree until some better explanation may be found, which in turn is only another opinion). Very annoying. Go do something worth while and stop making headline catching bollocks...... next thing you know the general public will be walking around stating, in a matter of fact manner, that everyone had brown eyes until 8-10,00 years ago! ..

[James Pickett]

Just hoping..

..that doesn't make me too closely relating to Francis Albert. Paul Newman I could cope with.

[cor]

OMG I have blue eyes...

Who's yo daddayh..?

[Mark Milaszkiewicz]

@ Michael Jolly

you have blue eyes too??? you're my long lost brother!

lend us a fiver?! ;)

[Chris Adams]

Oh but it is a positive thing

I would disagree with the authors that it is neither a positive nor negative mutation. I believe it is positive, if only in subtle proportions. Consider the following: **two identical humans** One human has bright sparkling blue eyes and the other has brown eyes. The human with blue eyes will have a slightly easier time in life vs. the one with brown eyes because fellow humans are drawn to beautiful things, and the piercing blue eyes are just that - beautiful. This will allow the blue eyed human to possibly choose a more gifted mate. Thus the favored continuation of the gene line over the eons. Seems like a no-brainer to me.....

[kev whelan]

hmm

No chance that this mutation happened to more than one person over a 10000 year period ?

I do not want to know that i am related to Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Blue eyed Kev

[bluesxman]

extended family

Can anyone else hear duelling banjos and the distant squeal of a pig?

[Mike Crawshaw]

So if...

I have blue eyes and I get it on with a blue-eyed girl...

a). I'm committing incest and should move to Hillbilly country.

b). My gf (who has brown eyes) will kick my ass.

Hmmm. I thought he said something about not being detrimental to survival?

[Tim Croydon]

Recessive gene

But if blue eyes is a recessive gene (as I seem to recall from GCSE biology) then the only way to have blue-eyed kids is for both parents to pass on recessive blue genes. Therefore, does that mean all blue-eyed people are the result of inbreeding or the original ancestors grandchildren?

Disclaimer: I am obviously not a geneticist.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Evolution leaps forward...

Spot on! Just because Eiberg is not into blue eyed women .....

You mean Paris isn't a natural blonde!!!!

[Onionman]

Reproduction is what matters.

It doesn't need to affect your ability to survive to keep going; it needs to affect your ability to survive long enough to reproduce. You can survive to be a hundred, but if you don't reproduce, the mutation will die out.

So, the first blue eyed person, despite looking VERY weird if everyone else had brown eyes, must have got their leg over, thus proving that blue eyed boys get the girls. Or vice versa. Or something.

PS. Paris Hilton. Blue eyes. Mutant. QED.

[Anonymous Coward]

Chat up line

"oh you have blue eye we must be related"............ not sure this would work except for Royals.

[Andus McCoatover]

So...

That Swedish bird I shagged a few years ago and me are related.

<sex-offender-register>

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Evolution leaps forward...

"I thought chances of survival and a mutation succeeding was not just down to chances of survival, but also successful breeding. If it was an unwanted mutation, our ancestors at the time would not have been attracted to the new eyes?"

An interesting point, but instead you have to consider that the first human being with the blue-eyed gene probably did not have blue eyes, and neither did any of his/her children.

As a genetic trait, blue eyes are seemingly recessive, so you would need two blue-eye genes to have blue eyes. The gene may have passed for any number of generations before the first actual blue-eyed human was born, and the survival of the gene would not have been dependent on this individual. In fact, the sexual attractiveness of blue eyes may have had a negligible effect on the spread of the gene for the first hundred years of its existence, hence Eiberg describing it as neutral.

[Mark Johnson]

I for one...

...welcome our new blue-eyed overlords.

[George Johnson]

All that's all we need!

Another perfectly interesting scientific discovery that will no doubt be twisted by some brain-dead wacko with an internet connection, a minority to target and an axe to grind!

[Alastair Dodd]

so

does the mean all people with blue eyes are inbred?

[Mountford D]

In-breeding

I've always said my in-laws were a bunch of in-breds. Now I've got proof.

[Geoff Mackenzie]

No genetic advantage ...

Hmm, I would be tempted to speculate that a slightly more reflective iris might aid vision in relatively low-light conditions, which could explain the relative prevalence of blue eyes further from the equator.

Although in all probability that's bollocks. :) I'm slightly concerned by the implication that my girlfriend and I are related ...

[Anne van der Bom]

ID?

"nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so"

Seems like this professor is an ID believer.

[Anonymous Coward]

OCA2

<singing>"OCA2 - and don't it make my brown eyes blue"</singing>

--outta' here

[Louis]

hidden mutation?

Who says they had to be attracted? Perhaps they were indifferent. Plus, if I remember correctly from my high school genetics class (highly unlikely), it takes two of the mutated genes to produce blue eyes. Having just one non-mutated gene will make brown eyes. Hence, the original mutant may not even have had blue eyes and they wouldn't have shown up until his/her descendants started to inbreed. Meaning? The mutation could have been around for quite a while before it ever showed itself and then suddenly affected the whole community giving the people little choice where attraction is concerned.

[Andus McCoatover]

Thinking about it a bit more...

..Only ONE switch? What if there was water contamination from a flint mine/Mammoth farm/terrorist training camp or something equally ancient. Thousands "switched" and blue eyes everywhere in one location. Then, migration...

I'm told we DO share two ancestors, but I don't Adam-and-Eve it.

Incidentally, I was walking down the stairs of my apartment once, and a girl was walking up. We looked at each other for half a second, and her eyes weren't just blue - they almost shone like lasers. Actually shook me so much I held onto the handrail for a second. This in Finland...

[Neil]

Born with blue eyes?

I thought everyone was born with blue eyes, and that they changed whilst still a baby?

Or is that some kind of urban legend?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not Positive

RE: Eiberg noted that the blue eyes mutation is neither "positive nor negative",

Well they seem to be spreading quite well and i do remember a study which showed that women in particular prefer blue eyes. Seems like an evolutionary advantage to me!

Its also the most popular contact lense colour for the above reasons probably.

They may also have psychic powers

(I made the last one up......or did I?)

[Ian Dennison]

Bring on the genetically engineered superheroes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Statesmen_%28comic%29

New Statesmens, graphic novel about unravelling the genetic code and the cultural, political and popular implications of. brill stuff.

(The first step in creating superhuman celebrities was to build an "optiman", choosing his eye colour and everything).

[Andy]

"chances of survival"

okay maybe not chances of survival, but one look at the esteemed and fantastically pretty Miss Hilton will convince even the most hardened Darwinist that it will increase the chance of breeding.

[trigram]

Attractiveness

"Eiberg noted that the blue eyes mutation is neither "positive nor negative", since it doesn't affect chances of survival."

Maybe being blue-eyed makes one more or less attractive which whilst not directly affecting chance of survival would have an impact on the possessor's ability to attract a sexual partner.

[Kenneth Chan]

We all have a bit of blue eyes...

So we all have blue eyes just waiting to get out.... Gene switch please.

[lansalot]

so...

Does that mean that if I happen across any blue-eyed couples, that I should grab my crufix/pitchfork and denounce them (loudly) as aberrations, in-breeders and general against-God's-law types ?

Cool. But tough luck for you, Iceland. Prepare to burn !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_color#Blue

Yours, Daily-Mail-grabbingly..

[Anonymous Coward]

You're right Liam, it is a lovely day

And even though my eyes are unfortunately stuffed full of melanin, I can still see out of the window well enough to note that the sky is blue and crystal clear, even over London.

What's more, it's Friday.

Like anything though, the day could be improved a little bit. For example, I could be looking at it from a pub garden instead of my office, but it would be churlish to complain really. It's still pretty good.

Getting back to evolutionary advantage, I wonder if blue eye colour will confer some sort of advantage now that young people all want to "be famous" as a career? I would think having blue eyes definitely gives you a head start in the worlds of film and fashion.

I for one welcome our supermodel overlords.

[Martin]

As I understand it....

...and I'm not an expert....but what it comes down to is that this gene caused a change (brown eyes to blue). The change affects absolutely nothing, but goes down to descendants. It also doesn't (significantly) affect attraction of mates (some people prefer blue eyes, some brown, but it's not a major effect one way or the other). So it just stayed because it did no harm. And now, we have lots of blue-eyed people but significantly more brown-eyed people.

[jason]

Eye Colour isn't a breeding inhibitor

"I thought chances of survival and a mutation succeeding was not just down to chances of survival, but also successful breeding. If it was an unwanted mutation, our ancestors at the time would not have been attracted to the new eyes?"

People have been breeding with unattractive people for thousands of years; eye colour is not going to stop a man wanting to sow his wild oats.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mutants

MJ, I'm blue-eyed too and I know my special power. People say something mutates after several buckets of Guinness anyway, and, trust me, it's powerful...

[Chris Bradshaw]

survival vs reproduction

"Eiberg noted that the blue eyes mutation is neither "positive nor negative", since it doesn't affect chances of survival"

I would argue that it was a positive mutation, because the blue-eyed population (as a percentage of total population) has obviously grown since the initial mutation occurred.

If there is no 'survival' benefit, then it is probably with some aspect of reproduction - i.e. blue eyed individuals are more likely to mate more often, or will be able to attract more capable partners, or be reproductive for a longer time, or something...

I wonder if there have been studies on this in the current population - eye color vs family income / number of kids / marriage longevity / ??? It would also be interesting to know how percentages of blue-eyed people have changed over the centuries in different areas of the world...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's me.

Sorry about that.

[Dan]

Born with blue eyes? @ Neil

Yes thats correct Neil, but its more of a dark navy blue. A babies eye colour changes about 3 to 6 months after birth to their final colour.

My son is 11 weeks old now, (although he was born 3 months premature, so he's still technically a week from birth,) and his eyes were dark navy to almost black. But then his mothers eye are black, (such a dark shade of brown that they look black,) and mine are bright blue. He does seem to have very very dark blue eyes right now, but we may have to wait a few more months to fully see.

Worse news is the poor bugger has his mothers nose lol

[theotherone]

then

you're all related to Adolf Hitler....

[Anonymous Coward]

Er, where do I fit in?

I've got one blue eye and one green eye - what does that do to this research?

[Anonymous Coward]

Burny

It's likely that blue eyes could give/could have given some sort of reproductive advantage.

On the other hand, they do present a disadvantage: blue-eyed people are more likely to get cataracts. As with skin, less melanin means less protection against UV rays.

[triky]

@ bradshaw

"I would argue that it was a positive mutation, because the blue-eyed population (as a percentage of total population) has obviously grown since the initial mutation occurred."

But you forget that the population generally has certainly grown since the initial mutation and that therefore the growth in the number of blue-eyed people is probably relatively proportionate to the growth in the number of brown-eyed people.

Anyway, I'm all for brown eyes. We rock, like chocolate!

[tranquil]

@Onionman

Paris actually has brown eyes but weres blue contacts. Also... oh god. I just corrected someones celebrity knowledge. On a IT news site. Euthanize me.

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a very clear evolutionary advantage to blue eyes (for men)

The gene for blue eyes is recessive, so if you and your wife both have blue eyes, and she gives birth to a brown-eyed kid, you know without a doubt what's going on. Anything that helps a person spot their own genetic offspring would have to be an advantage in the evolutionary sense.

Of course today we have paternity tests, but for thousands of years uncertainty of paternity has been a major factor in human society. Just watch the Jerry Springer show to see what this uncertainty can do to a person.

Paris, 'cause anyone who marries her would need paternity tests every time.

[Neil]

@Dan

Cheers matey. My son is 2 and has brown eyes and all I can remember of the early days were no sleep and having to goto work. I'd need the vast photo-archive to check the eye-colour.

Perhaps the point is people without blue eyes like me have shit memories.

[jose]

"Blue Eyes"?

Actually genetics is based on probability.

It doesn't say both parents must have the blue eyed gene for you to have blue eyes, just that it is more likely (probable) to produce blue eyed children. As with anything based on probability, it is the law of averages.

For example My father Brown eyes and mother blue eyes produced 6 children.

3 had brown eyes and 3 have blue eyes. The law of averages is demonstrated (not proven).

While it is true that having both parents with a recessive blue trait will produce 1 in 4 children with blue eyes, only one parent having the trait will produce blue eyed offspring more rarely say 1 in a 1000 or even 100,000. Yet it will happen (probably).

[Steve Evans]

@theotherone

Not quite sure what you mean by we're all related to Hitler... You do realise he had brown eyes don't you? (And was Austrian I believe).

He just realised that everyone should worship the blue eyed overlords a little early!

Now buy me a beer or I shall use my mutant blue eyed evil stare a second time.

(Does anyone know how to get the laser bit to work?)

[Anonymous John]

I am one of the blue-eyed overlords

So I'm not related to Paris Hilton.

[Anonymous Coward]

a bit different

I'd be impressed if the person had cat's eyes or something cool like that.

[Dave Bell]

It's not how well you breed.

What matters is how well your offspring breed.

(It's a subtle difference: think about it.)

[Anonymous Coward]

What about people...

What about people with one brown eye and one blue eye? What about people with green eyes?

[Scott]

Julia has it pretty well right...

I'm surprised it took someone so long to point out that blue eyes can be more disease-prone due to less shielding against harmful rays, same as fair skin. It probably is that blue eyes aren't the substantial disadvantage in some climates/latitudes that they are in others. And light blue irides might be slightly better at reflecting light, this will not help low-light vision at all (since they'd be scattering it before it even hit the retina), but they could possibly help reduce snow-glare and such...a tiny bit.

I'd suspect there are other factors at play too, such as superstition. In some primitive cultures, the people may have seen a blue-eyed individual as a pariah, in others, perhaps a mystic to be revered. But I'd consider one thing to be certain...regardless of why the mutation was popular enough to survive, it's remarkably superficial to think that this was the only factor that's ever contributed to the reproductive success of blue-eyed people.

Inbreeding was likely a large factor, as recessive traits really thrive in those sorts of populations. Most royal lineages are plagued by such traits, as are the Amish in the USA who tend to sequester themselves from the general population. By merit of their willful isolation, they have extreme rates of mutations that are rare in the rest of the world. That extreme concentration of a trait that's recessive in the rest of the world's population will increase the chances that the trait would be passed-along on any given occasion any of those individuals might mingle his/her genes with those of the general population, or inject them into another isolated population.

[CareTaker]

I am another freak

My right eye is brown and my left eye is split blue/brown down the middle. What does that make me?

Just as a point of interest; check out the eyes of Wesley Snipes in the film Demolition Man.

[Anonymous Coward]

@tranquil

"Paris actually has brown eyes but weres blue contacts. Also... oh god. I just corrected someones celebrity knowledge. On a IT news site. Euthanize me."

And you spelt wears incorrectly as well.

[Lyndon Rosser]

Not like gingers

There clearly is a selective advantage to having blue eyes, or it wouldn't have reached such high frequencies in several populations. The apparent lack of genetic diversity around the mutation indicates a "selective sweep" where all the neighbouring genes have piggybacked along on the selective success of the blue eyed allele.

You can contrast this to the origin of red hair, caused by mutations in the MC1R gene. Mutations in this gene have arisen several times during human evolution, but have never achieved a high population frequency, which suggests that this is a genuine neutral mutation with no selective advantages.

[RW]

Genetics

Lots of comments showing that simple Mendelian genetics is well understood by the Register's readers.

However, simple Mendelian genetics is only a first approximation to "how genetic inheritance works." It doesn't explain anomalies like eyes of different colors, an eye with a two-color iris, etc. Understanding these oddities (or analogous ones) won a Nobel Prize for Barbara McClintock, and since her important work with multi-colored corn (maize) decades ago, all sorts of complications and wrinkles have been sorted out.

Inheritance can be, and often is, a great deal more complex than the simple Mendelian model implies though simple Mendelian genetics is the starting point for understanding.

[Anonymous Coward]

blue eyed super-pwers

The blue-eyed-overlords among us are already aware of their superpowers and refuse to let us brown-eyed ("dirty-lookers" in blue-eye speak) know about it. Most research suggests some sort of telepathy or mind control but the lack of reliable field-reports forbids any firm conclusion. I am recruiting reconnaissance parties to help pin down exactly which superpower blue-eyes endows - if anyone is interested in joining this group of fearless truth-finders then you should be slim, dark and attractive, you'll need to catch and have relentless sexual encounters with a possibly ugly blue-eyed infidel. Leave a comment here when you've managed to extract some more clues as to their devious powers.

...

[BitTwister]

@CareTaker

> My right eye is brown and my left eye is split blue/brown down the middle. What does that make me?

Variegated?

Hey - that must mean you're related to Ivy!

[Bishop Riggs]

All living things...

...share a common ancestor. You just have to go back far enough.

Ahem...

[theotherone]

@Steve Evans

um no mate...it's a popular misconception that Hitler had brown eyes (and only one ball), He actually had light blue eyes (and 3 balls!)

google it or look it up on wankipedia.....

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_Adolf_Hitler's_eye_color

Gates icon cause he's only got one ball...

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't cahnge the fact

That blond hair and blue eyes are essentialy regressive genes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Forgot to say

My eyes are metallic grey

[Anonymous from Mars]

@Er, where do I fit in?

"I've got one blue eye and one green eye - what does that do to this research?"

Congratulations, you've got heterochromia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterochromia

[Andus McCoatover]

I reckon this thread...

...will see us through the weekend.

<groan>

[Anonymous Coward]

The spice must flow!

Everyone knows blue eyes have nothing to do with genetics!

[Steve Evans]

@theotherone

"it's a popular misconception that Hitler had brown eyes"

Well well, who would have believed it, I actually learnt something in the registers comments!

Thanks for that.

Does this mean the 2 pickled brown Hitler eyes I won on ebay are fake then?

Dammmmit!

Dead vulture? Well cos it looks like it's had its eyes removed!

[Anonymous Coward]

Blue all the way, here

I've got blue eyes, the wife has blue eyes, my dad has blue eyes, as does my mother, brother and sister, both set of grandparents - blue eyes all the way. And I have a trio of blonde blue-eyed boys.

The eyes have it.

Such a seriously bad pun deserves the coat.....

[Anonymous Coward]

@tranquil

>>"Paris actually has brown eyes but weres blue contacts. Also... oh god. I just corrected someones celebrity knowledge. On a IT news site. Euthanize me."

>And you spelt wears incorrectly as well.

Also "god" is generally considered a proper noun and so spelled with a G. Nice little courtesy to those who still believe in him/it/whatever, even if you don't.

I have a nice syringe full of Domestos waiting for you, if you'd like to pop round.

[Anonymous Coward]

No way Jose!

(sorry - couldn't help myself!)

The blue eyes (trait) causing mutation of the OCA2 gene has resulted in a recessive variant of the OCA2 gene. Being recessive, its effects are not apparent in individuals who have both the blue and brown producing genes - they will have brown eyes. Therefore a person with brown eyes may have two copies of the un-mutated brown eye producing OCA2 gene, or, as in the case of your parent (and myself), may be a carrier of ONE blue mutated gene - its presence concealed by the dominant brown eye causing variant.

The effect of this is that the children of one parent with blue eyes and one who is a blue eye trait carrier have a 100% probability of inheriting the blue causing gene from the blue eyed parent and a 50% chance of inheriting the blue variant from their brown eyed parent. Therefore there is a 50% chance of the child having both OCA2 genes of the mutated variant and displaying the blue eyed trait. They also have a 50% chance of having one blue and one brown, so becoming a brown eyed blue trait carrier, just like their brown eyed parent (and me).

Similarly, two brown eyed parents may both be blue trait carriers. In which case they both have a 50% probability of passing on the blue eye variant. Their children will have a 25% chance of inheriting 2 un-mutated genes (brown eyes), a 50% chance of inheriting one mutated gene and one un-mutated (brown eyes, blue trait carrier) and a 25% chance of getting 2 mutated copies (blue eyes).

So yes, both parents *MUST* have the blue eyed gene for there to be any chance of their offspring having blue eyes. Neither however need exhibit the trait themselves.

[Fox]

"neither positive nor negative" - my arse!

'Eiberg noted that the blue eyes mutation is neither "positive nor negative", since it doesn't affect chances of survival.'

I've noted the opposite - hasn't he noticed the conspicuous variation of distribution of the trait according to latitude?

I remember, some time ago, reading a fascinating and compelling hypothesis about a possible reason for there being so many gingers up north.

If memory serves, Scottish types studied and found to have a far greater than normal frequency of the MC1R mutation - which results in their ruddy colouring. The MC1R mutation for red hair seems uncannily similar to the OCA2 mutation which produces blue eyes. Both are mutations of genes involved in melatonin pigmentation, both mutations result in a reduction of pigmentation (individuals exhibiting both traits are considered "fair" - less skin pigmentation and more susceptible to sunburn), both mutations are recessive, the presence of a twin set of either mutated gene is betrayed by an obvious (though possibly less significant) physical trait (hair or eye colour).

The theory goes that because the fairer skin of individuals exhibiting traits of the MC1R mutation (I'm extrapolating this to OCA2 too) will tan less quickly/deeply when exposed to the precious few hours of sunshine they get up north, therefore they will produce more vitamin D during the summer. That extra vitamin D can be stored into the gloomy winter and help fend off the ravages of Rickets etc. So, if you live somewhere with a shitty climate, having fairer skin which tans poorly gives you a huge evolutionary advantage - blue eyes and red hair will proliferate. Conversely, if you live in the baking sun you'd be burnt to a crisp - blue eyes and red hair will die out.

It seems silly to muse that the mutation is "neither positive nor negative". ...and this is before you factor in any subjective effects such as attractiveness. I for one have a real weakness for blue eyed brunettes and welcome our new D enriched overloards.

Paris because of her apparent Nordic colouring.

[Anonymous Coward]

Blue eyes attractive?

My particular take on this is that it's the relative rarity of such features which make them attractive. As a particularly pale north european type I've a prediliction for dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark skinned dusky beauties and they, believe it or not, often tend to find pale skin attractive. It's a case of opposites, or the unusual, attracting.

I suspect that, in Finland for example, blond hair and blue eyes being practically ubiquitous means that people with differently coloured eyes find them considered to be more attractive than blue ones.

But then my eyes have a rather peculiar greeny brown mix and I have a strange desire to make Jon Voight squeal like a pig so what do I know?

[Anonymous Coward]

It was NOT some random mutation

Honestly! Why do scientist always go for the bizarre and unlikely explanation when a far easier one presents itself?

The simple truth is that yer all the freakish result of some alien experiment and, so help me God, if you mutants try to side with your alien overlords against us brown eyed people, I'm gonna sic Mulder and Scully onto all of you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Eh

A while ago scientists where saying "T-Rex, the awesome hunter", then a little while ago, "T-Rex was a scavenger"..

"Eggs cause cholesterol", "New studies show eggs are good for you, don't cause cholesterol" was a recent furry-tooth article in one of the wife's magazines.

It's almost a fact of life lately. Scientists get it wrong. I have no doubt that in the next few years, this study will either be debunked totally, or shown to have horribly big flaws in it.

Sigh. Get over it. Compared to the scientists of yesterday (Chinese alchemists, herb lore healers, among other "heathen" science), you're pretty much full of crap. Give me a call when you have some factual info, till then get bent.

[Tim Brown]

Don't forget...

... Hitler thought that the perfect person had white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, and was 1.83 metres tall. All of which were mutations that are now common in the populace due to selective breeding. (Hitler was, of couse, short, black hair, brown eyes, and beige.) Hitler wanted the entire Ayran nation to be like that.

And now for the black helicopter moment: Maybe Hitler wanted every human to be like that so much he built a time machine and sent his best back to get it on with the natives?

[tony trolle]

mmmmm.....

still doesn't explain why my eyes change color from blue to green and back; unless AC is correct and they change after an experiment. Just checked; this week they are green.

[triky]

eyup!

@ Eh : what do you mean herb lore healers are scientists of yesterday? I object !

@ It was not some random mutation: agreed ! can i be Choclit the blue-basher side-kick?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the political correctness?

surely there is a place ofr genetic as well as behavoral chanegs based on or as a reaction to their environment?

blind hair blue eyed scandinaviesn up live knowrth where its cold and the sun dont shine (much, except for when it shines all the time)

dark skined darked haired people live where its very hot and sunny.

where the weather is something other than this and more viarable a slight more middle of the road colour apears?

obviosuly the varience suits the environment that which they live in.

just like those snails and other things Darwin looked at and made the association that creatures adpat to thier environments?

a snail is still a snail wether it shell spirals one way or the other, or the pigmentation of the the shell is one colour or another. according to this therfore there must be some localised advantage of the native species in its native environment or it wouldnt have developed for that environent.

thats why you those freaky cratures from Austrailia and then animals are a bit wierd too!

why when anyone mentions blonde haired blue eyes does eveyone go silly and start talking about them as though they are ex/current or proto - Austrian Painters? It ramps up the levels of hysteria to that of feminists insisting all men are therfore defact ex/current/future abusers of women?

Ps

I am a blued eyed and blonde haired male , and no I dont have a urge to paint central europen still life, and no i am not a rapist nor do I wish to ethnically cleanse (except for croydon).

I do have a organo-chip inserted in my brain by which every 28 days the messages from the motehrship are beamed in for the next experiment - either that or i have tinitus - has anyone explored the link bewtween OCA2 and tinitus? also my skin falls off as i think i manufactured on a friday or monday so mu creators mind wasnt fully on the job?

[Sam Therapy]

@ AC

"also my skin falls off as i think i manufactured on a friday or monday so mu creators mind wasnt fully on the job?"

Probably. Seems like they forgot to install the spell checker, too.

[Richard Thomas]

Re: Chat up line

I don't know about anyone else, but if I was compiling a list of phrases that should never be included in a chat up line, "we must be related" would be pretty near the top ,-)

[machinehead]

Mutants....

Here be Mutants!!