Scientist Discovers Blue Eyed People Related

[Morbid Side]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327070,00.html

If this is true, thats fucked.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Seems reasonable to me. We are all related, narrowing it down slightly to who we are "more related" as it were, is inevitable as DNA tech becomes more sophisticated.

Danish researchers have concluded that all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor, presumably someone who lived 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.

"Originally, we all had brown eyes," Professor Hans Eiberg of the University of Copenhagen said in a press release. "But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce brown eyes."

[ttogreh]

The major spectrum of genetic differences is one tenth of one percent among three billion base pairs of DNA. To state that blue eyed people (I am one such person) are related to one another is to state that the sky is light blue on a cloudless day.

[know_buddy_kares]

Did anyone care to notice the link says FOX NEWS?!?!?!

All bets are off when it comes to their reporting. I've noticed they, on several ocasions, always spin the truth and add drama to it. Fox news is good watching if I ever have the urge to toss a bowling ball into the tv... Bill Oriely's head would be a great target...

I have blue eyes... most my family doesn't. It's all a crock of shit if you ask me.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

University of Copenhagen's Press Release

Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor

Posted 30 January 2008

New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.

What is the genetic mutation

“Originally, we all had brown eyes”, said Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. “But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a “switch”, which literally “turned off” the ability to produce brown eyes”. The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives colour to our hair, eyes and skin. The “switch”, which is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 does not, however, turn off the gene entirely, but rather limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris – effectively “diluting” brown eyes to blue. The switch’s effect on OCA2 is very specific therefore. If the OCA2 gene had been completely destroyed or turned off, human beings would be without melanin in their hair, eyes or skin colour – a condition known as albinism.

Limited genetic variation

Variation in the colour of the eyes from brown to green can all be explained by the amount of melanin in the iris, but blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes. “From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor,” says Professor Eiberg. “They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA.” Brown-eyed individuals, by contrast, have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production.

Professor Eiberg and his team examined mitochondrial DNA and compared the eye colour of blue-eyed individuals in countries as diverse as Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. His findings are the latest in a decade of genetic research, which began in 1996, when Professor Eiberg first implicated the OCA2 gene as being responsible for eye colour.

Nature shuffles our genes

The mutation of brown eyes to blue represents neither a positive nor a negative mutation. It is one of several mutations such as hair colour, baldness, freckles and beauty spots, which neither increases nor reduces a human’s chance of survival. As Professor Eiberg says, “it simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so.”

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I really dislike seeing people so dismissive of real science.

[know_buddy_kares]

i didn't dismiss the real science, i saw fox news on it and knew it was some hyped up bullshit...

when technically, if you believe in adam and eve... we're all bro's and sis's...

think about that the next time one of you have sex...

you incestual bastards!

[TygerLili]

Technically, aren't we all related?

If you believe in creationism we all came from the first man and woman. If you believe in evolution we're related to everything living, including singel-celled amoebae.

[GothicRavenGoddess (3)]

i think that its crazy how blue eyes (i have heard) is a dominant gene, but yet in most families that i have witnessed, that have one parent blue eyes one with brown, there are more children with brown or even hazel eye!

[Head Wreck]

indeed.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Brown eyes are the Dominant ones.

Did you know that at least one of your parents has to have a cleft chin for you to have one? A friend of mine figured out she was adopted when she noticd that neither parent had a cleft chin like she did.

[GothicRavenGoddess (3)]

wow, thats nuts! Being able to roll your tongue is also something you have to inherit, as well....

[Rayne]

i think that its crazy how blue eyes (i have heard) is a dominant gene, but yet in most families that i have witnessed, that have one parent blue eyes one with brown, there are more children with brown or even hazel eye!

My Mom has green eyes, my Dad has blue. Mine are green, my little brother's are blue.

My ex has brown eyes, I have green. Only one of our three kids has brown eyes. The other two have blue.

[TygerLili]

Brown eyes are the Dominant ones.

Correct. Though from what I understand, multiple genes control control your eye color, so even if both parents have the same eye color, there can be a wide variation in the outcome of the offspring's eye color.

[know_buddy_kares]

I think that would be called Hybrid, as in say a dominant gene with 1 or more recessive genes...

[Steven]

Honestly, Im trying in vain to see what in the world this means to struggling middle class suburbia......seems as if we've got ALOT more important stuff to be tittilated by

[know_buddy_kares]

Honestly, Im trying in vain to see what in the world this means to struggling middle class suburbia......seems as if we've got ALOT more important stuff to be tittilated by

we do, but we can also multi task on subjects here... and honestly you can't focus souly on dire matters. It's nice to have something trivial and sorta comical to talk about too, like this thread.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Um, wow... no offense, but stop thinking in such small ways. Our genetic code is the most complex thing we have ever tackled. We have it mapped but only understand how a very small percentage of it works. Yet, we are attempting to due Gene therapy and stem cell research for cures. The fuller our understading of the human genetic code.. the better we will be able to treat/prevent medical problems.

It's trivial to you because you can't see the scientific value of it. KBK and Steven, we don't always agree, but neither of you are really thinking about this. Let your minds follow along the paths of possibility on this.... one discovery leads to another... and rules out 1000 more.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Genetic science is far more important than what time American Idol is coming on next. The inability to see the Forrest for the trees is a common problem. Also the idea of our own egos that says "what effects my personal life, right now today in this particular moment" is more important that something that might increase the body of understanding for mankind as a whole is just, i feel, either selfish or narrow minded one of the two, maybe both.

Even on just on a "is that interesting?" type level, yeah it is interesting. Far more than a lot of the stuff we spend our free time on.

[Steven]

we do, but we can also multi task on subjects here... and honestly you can't focus souly on dire matters. It's nice to have something trivial and sorta comical to talk about too, like this thread.

true true......guess I was in a mood.

I was thinkin that maybe we could discuss the pinky toe next. (k that was jest)

[Steven]

Um, wow... no offense, but stop thinking in such small ways. Our genetic code is the most complex thing we have ever tackled. We have it mapped but only understand how a very small percentage of it works. Yet, we are attempting to due Gene therapy and stem cell research for cures. The fuller our understading of the human genetic code.. the better we will be able to treat/prevent medical problems.

It's trivial to you because you can't see the scientific value of it. KBK and Steven, we don't always agree, but neither of you are really thinking about this. Let your minds follow along the paths of possibility on this.... one discovery leads to another... and rules out 1000 more.

totally fair.

I yeild.

[Steven]

Genetic science is far more important than what time American Idol is coming on next. The inability to see the Forrest for the trees is a common problem. Also the idea of our own egos that says "what effects my personal life, right now today in this particular moment" is more important that something that might increase the body of understanding for mankind as a whole is just, i feel, either selfish or narrow minded one of the two, maybe both.

Even on just on a "is that interesting?" type level, yeah it is interesting. Far more than a lot of the stuff we spend our free time on.

in my case....probably both.

"what effects my personal life, right now today in this particular moment" .... stems from my beleif that we simply dont have alot of moments left, which is a whole other Oprah I know, therefore I yeild.

What time is American Idol coming on anyway?

[GothicRavenGoddess (3)]

What time is American Idol coming on anyway?

LMAO

anywho.. i love talking about this kind of stuff... i may not always be right... i watch and read A LOT of stuff, so its easy to get info misconstrued... but anyways... yes, our DNA is extremely complex, and we have discovered what only a small portion of it can do (kinda the equivalent of a drop of water in the ocean kind of thing) the more we find, the more advanced, medically, we become.... But in the same since, its kinda scary... the things that we are able to do now, vs. what we could do 100 years ago, with just surgery alone, not to mention the countless other things that we are able to do... if the earth survives as long, i think that ppl will be living WELL into their 100's and the record breaker of age will be like 150, instead of the occasional 105-111 (or however old that one person was).... 105-120 will be common place, and still function like 80 year olds... lol.....

[bean]

Um, wow... no offense, but stop thinking in such small ways. Our genetic code is the most complex thing we have ever tackled. We have it mapped but only understand how a very small percentage of it works. Yet, we are attempting to due Gene therapy and stem cell research for cures. The fuller our understading of the human genetic code.. the better we will be able to treat/prevent medical problems.

It's trivial to you because you can't see the scientific value of it. KBK and Steven, we don't always agree, but neither of you are really thinking about this. Let your minds follow along the paths of possibility on this.... one discovery leads to another... and rules out 1000 more.

[bean]

When I was in high school, I always loved science class, and when we did the little bit that we did on genetics, I thought it was fascinating. Looking at my own family, and just taking eye color, I thought this was interesting:

I have green eyes.

My mother has blue eyes and my father has brown eyes.

My maternal grandmother had brown eyes, my maternal grandfather had blue eyes.

Both my paternal grandparents and great-grandparents had brown eyes.

My maternal great grandfather had brown eyes, my maternal great grandmother had green eyes.