Apparently the blue eyes thing has been known for a while but I'm only just reading about it today.

https://www.rd.com/article/everyone-blue-eyes-related/

“... the fact that all ... blue eyes descend from a single genetic mutation means that every single person on the planet with blue eyes descended from one common ancestor.”

"...a team of geneticists at the University of Copenhagen actually traced that mutation all the way back to a single Danish family."



https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/04/all-blue-eyed-people-on-earth-share-the-same-ancestor-17497235/

"Scientists have worked out that, long long ago, all humans had brown eyes. Until a specific gene mutation caused them to change."

"It’s believed the first person to have blue eyes lived in Europe up to 10,00 years ago. And every blue-eyed person alive today has that same mutation present in their body."

"In Britain, the majority of people – 48% – have blue eyes, while 30% of us are green eyed and just 22% have brown ones."

"Whereas there’s a pretty big variation in iris shades between green and brown, blue eyes have a tiny variation in the amount of melanin present."

"And it’s this fact that has led Professor Eiberg, from the University of Copenhagen to suggest that blue-eyed individuals are all linked to the same ancestor."

-----

Only 22% of people in Britain have brown eyes - interesting. My mum and one sister had green eyes, from their Irish mum we thought, and their other two sisters had huge brown eyes. I have blue as do three of my sibs, while one of my sisters has the greenies.

Now that I've looked it up, I see that this idea was floated a good few years ago but for some reason it's coming up again in articles this week.

I sometimes lose track of whether or when conclusions from findings go from hypotheses to relatively universally accepted fact. All the changing (evolving, lol) ideas can get confusing if you don't keep up with new findings and conclusions.

It's fascinating though. I'm impatient to hear "all the answers". (Somewhat like Mormons promise about temple visits - ha!) Yes, I always read the last page of a book first - cannot stand suspense. And I want to know who dies in a movie before I watch it.

I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of being related to every other blue-eyed person in this world. It's half good, half bad maybe. As for the mutation perhaps arising from a Dane, interesting.

It's the time lapse I can't wrap my head around - 10,000 years. I want to know about that first guy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2022 07:45PM by Nightingale.

How tall was Zelph?

a bunch of aryans in this thred ~

Hi Cousin. While my moniker covers the colors of the spectrum, my eyes are just blue. We should share a virtual "Danish" pastry over virtual coffee one morning :)

Wrong place



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2022 01:44PM by Elder Berry.

Roy G Biv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While my moniker covers the colors of
> the spectrum, my eyes are just blue.

Clever!

"A team of geneticists from the University of Copenhagen beat an all-star team of geneticists from all the Russian universities 6 to 2 in last night's strudel games!!"

--CBS Denmark, Channel 10

I have brown eyes. My wife has green eyes. All three of our biological children have blue eyes.

Fascinating. Thanks for posting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2022 01:45PM by Elder Berry.

That's so interesting about the various eye colours in your family, EB. This short article explains some of the details (same as what I posted below for kentish).

https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/eye-color-hazel.htm

Blue eyes are carried on a recessive gene. So both you and your wife have blue-eyed people among your ancestors (for your children to inherit that genetic trait.)

A few of the articles I read state that in past years it was believed that two brown-eyed people could not have a blue-eyed child.

That must have caused much concern and turmoil for some folks because of course there would be suspicion of infidelity, unnecessarily in most cases. Yow.

It is essential to keep in mind that science keeps moving. Forward that is. So it's true when they say that pretty much nothing is written in stone. Metaphorically speaking anyway. And evolutionarily.

I leaned the nuts and bolts of genetic inheritance (including inheritance of eye color) when I was in high school, so the early to mid-70s. When I was in elementary school, (1960s,) one teacher taught us about the Bering land bridge that brought the Native Americans to the Americas. I guess I got lucky that my schooling took place in areas where science was respected.

summer Wrote:
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> I guess I got
> lucky that my schooling took place in areas where
> science was respected.

Amen. Knowledge good.

And Life evolves right while we're living it. Gotta keep up.

Such as re evolving viruses, etc and etc.

Weirder still is the fact that my parents had black hair and my father was often confused to be Hispanic. He had really dark brown eyes. My mother has hazel eyes that are more brown than green like mine are.

Both of my grandmothers had blue eyes. One of my wife's grandmother had blue eyes. Her mother has hazel and her father blue.

My wife's eyes are the greenest eyes I think I've seen.

Everything of mine lists eye color as hazel. Seems I missed out on everything.

Kentish Wrote:
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> Everything of mine lists eye color as hazel.
> Seems I missed out on everything.

You're a genetic mutant! (Apparently, many of us are, so whew).

This is a good clear article about eye colour that I found so interesting:

https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/eye-color-hazel.htm

Excerpt re hazel eyes:

"Just as it takes many strokes of the artist's brush to produce a masterpiece, hazel eyes involve the dynamics of several elements to create the unique work of art that's represented in every hazel eye."

"Unique work of art" - what a lovely expression.

David Beckham is on the list of celebs with hazel eyes so there's an English football (soccer) connection too for you, kentish. :)

We are all mutants millions of times over. That's why, among other things, we have egregiously large brains.

My problem is being too agreegious. <heavy sigh>

I agree, Jess!

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's why, among other things, we have egregiously large
> brains.

I need every last cell of egregiousness my brainpan can hold!

persistent rumors that red-heads are becoming more scarce are debunked online...

Thanks for the interesting articles! My dad (mainly British ancestry) had blue eyes. I got my mom's (mainly eastern European ancestry) green eyes. I fully expect blue eyes to pop up again in the family tree at some future time.

We have something in common, summer, with the Brit influence. I would love to have the Irish (green) eyes but I got the blues. Oh well, I'm happy to have them, still in working order, hopefully for the long haul.

I relate most to my British heritage. My favorite combination is brunette hair and blue eyes. Needless to say I found the men in England to be quite enticing. :)

A friend of mine is currently attending grad school in Cambridge. I must schedule a visit while she is still there! lol

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Needless to say I found the men in England to be
> quite enticing. :)

Mm hmmmm. There was an abundance of UK medical students around and about while I was training to be a nurse. Bonus for sure.

Scots are #1 in my book. The accent is to swoon for.

There are a lot of blue eyes in the bunch.


> A friend of mine is currently attending grad
> school in Cambridge. I must schedule a visit while
> she is still there! lol

Go for it!

"Scots are #1 in my book. The accents are to swoon for."

When I was in Scotland many a year ago, I visited a fabric shop while looking for some yummy tartan cloth. I happened to hear a brisk conversation between two of the cutest little old ladies, who were trying to decide which fabric would be the best for "troosers." I sidled along, trying to stay within listening distance - not to be snoopy, just to hear that accent! I don't remember exactly where this was - somewhere in the Highlands, I think.

Accents are one of the many joys in travel.

Oh we are Summer,we are. Still waters and all that.

Nobody in my immediate family has them (mine are green). His wife is Ukrainian and by brother is half Irish and half Lithuanian, so my guess is that it's the northern blood.

"Gentlemen prefer blondes--but they marry brunettes."

I am so bad at science.

Paternal grandmom had green eyes
Paternal grandad had brown
Dad and stepmom brown
Half bro on dad’s side has green eyes
Other half bro on dad’s side has brown


Maternal granddad had brown
Maternal grandmom is a question mark because of the whole, “We’re gonna lynch your husband and check thee into Catholic infant foundling and kiss your baby goodbye” thing.
Mom has brown eyes
Stepdad had green
Half bro on mom’s side has blue

I have brown.

We are all Black except for maternal grandmom (see lynching issue)

Okay. So. We all know that some stuff went down during slavery (ie rape), so that’s why none of us look like we’ve just gotten off a plane from Africa. Then there’s the whole prejudice among some Black folks (see Brown Paper Bag Test), so we’ve got people in my extended family popping up here and there with blond hair and blue eyes but identifiable African facial features.

As far as I can remember, none of us has straight hair, but we run the gamut from soft curls to fros.

Yeah, brown eyes and curly hair are dominant traits, but for blue to pop up, both parents have to carry that gene, right?

So, are we ETA Danes, rather, <strike >Norwegian </strike> and can I apply for citizenship?

Science is hard.

/tongue firmly implanted in cheek

Edited because I got my dommes and subs confused



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2022 12:02AM by Beth.

Don't worry about where you or your forebears came from.
It's what you do with your life, and how you handle your future, that counts.

And you're perfectly lovely!

Okay. What do you want, caffiend? ;-)

Seriously though, thank you.

The headline is we're related. Howdy cousin.

HOWDY!

Yup. The gene must be carried by both you mom and your dad.

Those Danes got around! :D

Definitely worth repeating!

This message was brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department!

::chuckle:: :D

Blue and delightsome, Brown and delightsome, Green and delightsome, Hazel and delightsome, Grey and delightsome.
They're all good.

Shinehah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Blue and delightsome, Brown and delightsome, Green
> and delightsome, Hazel and delightsome, Grey and
> delightsome.
> They're all good.

Grey! I didn't think of those. Here's what the Net has to say about them:

"Having gray eyes is one of the rarest physical conditions in the human race. The color is caused by the front layer of the iris having less melanin than the back layer. Women with gray eyes tend to have a blue shade of gray, while men usually have a green shade of gray."

"A green shade of gray" - that sounds like a superb title for an amazing song. (A la "A Whiter Shade of Pale").

Here's more about grey eyes:

"Human eyes come in many colors — brown, blue, green, hazel, amber, and even violet or gray eyes. Gray eye color is one of the loveliest and most uncommon, a trait shared by only 3% of the world’s population. The color and intensity of gray eyes varies from person to person and can include dark gray, gray-green and gray-blue."

Some of these details are surprising (accuracy?):

"People with light-colored eyes, including gray eyes, consume more alcohol than those with dark eyes, according to a 2001 study that looked at data from two surveys of over 12,000 individuals. Meanwhile, those with dark eyes are more sensitive to alcohol and become intoxicated more easily — drinking less as a result."

"Similarly, people with gray eyes may be less sensitive to medications than those with darker eyes. Studies dating from the 1970s and 1980s confirm an overall greater sensitivity to stimuli in participants with dark eyes."

"Even giving birth seems to cause less pain and anxiety to those with light-colored eyes, such as blue or gray eyes."

-----

So, if a Mormon has grey eyes can they break the Word of Wisdom and blame their DNA? Or why not go all the way to the top and blame Mormon God. Instead of "the devil made me do it" they can claim it's my damn eyes.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2022 01:41PM by Nightingale.

Oh if I just had musical talent. There's definitely more than one song in there.

I wish I had your brain. It’s a good one.

Everything bout humans is a mutation from one previous form of life or another.

Hence Nightingale's capacious brain pan.

According to some on this board... since the expansion of the universe involved the dilation of time, the original blue-eyed person was born just 15 minutes ago. Same time as the velociraptor. Although the correlation is just spurious.


HH =)