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Another Genetic Quirk of the Solomon Islands: Blond Hair
The New York Times ^ | 03 May 2012 | SINDYA N. BHANOO

Posted on 05/04/2012 7:46:30 AM PDT by Theoria

In the Solomon Islands, about 10 percent of the dark-skinned indigenous people have strikingly blond hair. Some islanders theorize that the coloring could be a result of excess sun exposure, or a diet rich in fish. Another explanation is that the blondness was inherited from distant ancestors — European traders and explorers who came to the islands.

But that’s not the case, researchers now report. The gene variant responsible for blond hair in the islanders is distinctly different from the gene that causes blond hair in Europeans.

“For me it breaks down any kind of simple notions you might have about race,” said Carlos Bustamante, a geneticist at Stanford University. “Humans are beautifully diverse, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Dr. Bustamante and his colleagues published their findings in the current issue of the journal Science.

The researcher analyzed saliva samples from more than 1,000 islanders, looking closely at a subset of the samples — from 43 blond and 42 dark-haired islanders.

They were soon able to identify the single gene responsible for the variance in hair color. Called TYRP1, the gene is known to influence pigmentation in humans.

The researchers also found that the variant of TYRP1 that causes blond hair in Solomon Islanders is entirely absent in the genomes of Europeans.

“Here you go into an unstudied population with a small sample size and you can really find some cool things,” Dr. Bustamante said. “So what about other places, like what about light pigmentation in parts of Africa? How do we not know the genetic basis of skin and hair pigmentations across the globe?”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science
KEYWORDS: blondhair; dna; genes; genetics; godsgravesglyphs; hair; helixmakemineadouble; scotland; scotlandyet; solomonislands
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1 posted on 05/04/2012 7:46:39 AM PDT by Theoria
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To: SunkenCiv

Just interesting, ping.


2 posted on 05/04/2012 7:47:19 AM PDT by Theoria (Rush Limbaugh: Ron Paul sounds like an Islamic terrorist)
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To: Theoria

HUMMM let’s see could they have got it from one of THESE guys:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Noah
!!!???


3 posted on 05/04/2012 7:49:07 AM PDT by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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To: US Navy Vet
Why don't think it was something more mundane, perhaps local genetic interbreeding, from being isolated or thru genetic manipulation for the desired ‘blonde’ look?
4 posted on 05/04/2012 7:52:06 AM PDT by Theoria (Rush Limbaugh: Ron Paul sounds like an Islamic terrorist)
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To: Theoria

5 posted on 05/04/2012 7:56:02 AM PDT by frithguild (You can call me Snippy the Anti-Freeper)
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To: frithguild

Yep, the exact same thing came to mind for me, too.


6 posted on 05/04/2012 8:03:34 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: Theoria

Probably from some Marines leaving their mark just passing through
Guadalcanal, New Georgia Island and Bougainville


7 posted on 05/04/2012 8:05:04 AM PDT by stylin19a (Obama - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)
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To: Theoria
About 70 years ago, a group of young American men visited the Solomon Islands on a goverment-sponsored junket. Perhaps some of them got to "know"--in the biblical sense--the local girls.
8 posted on 05/04/2012 8:06:19 AM PDT by Fiji Hill (Deo Vindice!)
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To: Fiji Hill

“The researchers also found that the variant of TYRP1 that causes blond hair in Solomon Islanders is entirely absent in the genomes of Europeans.”


9 posted on 05/04/2012 8:48:17 AM PDT by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: Theoria

***European traders and explorers who came to the islands. ***

About 45 years ago I read a book on THE LOST FLEET OF ALEXANDER. The author claimed that the fleet did not return west from India upon Alexander’s death, but sailed EAST, into the Pacific and later landed in South America.


10 posted on 05/04/2012 8:57:18 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: frithguild

Post Du Jour! LMAO!


11 posted on 05/04/2012 8:58:28 AM PDT by Hoosier-Daddy ( "It does no good to be a super power if you have to worry what the neighbors think." BuffaloJack)
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To: Theoria

I still think Humanity has not evolved in 5 thousand years. The evolution will washed away once and for all, with God’s DNA touch.


12 posted on 05/04/2012 9:21:19 AM PDT by Baseballguy (If we knew what we know now in Oct would we do anything different?)
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To: Theoria; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks Theoria.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


13 posted on 05/05/2012 9:16:15 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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"The gene variant responsible for blond hair in the islanders is distinctly different from the gene that causes blond hair in Europeans."


14 posted on 05/05/2012 9:19:23 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: US Navy Vet
I've seen an old genealogy of my surname, woven into a tapestry, that purported to show the line back from Essex to Wales, from Wales to Ireland, from Ireland to Milesia/Iberia (Spain), from Spain to Scythia, and so on back to Japheth, son of Noah.

Such genealogies were popular in the late medieval period among the merchant class and minor nobles, with something of a Victorian era revival of the practice, it lent a little grandeur to those striving for such. Think Millicent Bucket, lol.

The one I saw did follow the legendary path to the letter, but included an individual belonging to a no doubt mythical people of Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann, so it's apocryphal.

15 posted on 05/05/2012 9:41:16 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry
Origins, age, spread and ethnic association of European haplogroups and subclades
16 posted on 05/05/2012 10:06:03 AM PDT by blam
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To: blam

The legendary and the genetic don’t necessarily disagree. Tubal, son of Japheth, and descendants were noted for their skill with metal. The dominant haplotype of Ireland, Wales, scottish highlanders, etc. traces through Bronze Age areas noted for metallurgy.


17 posted on 05/05/2012 10:19:43 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry
I highly recommend this excellent book.

History has long maintained that the Anglo-Saxon overtaking of the Iron Age Celts was the origin of the British people. Celtic Britain reconstructs the peopling of Britain — through a study of genetics, climatology, archaeology, language, culture, and history — and overturns that myth and others. The Anglo-Saxons, who supposedly conquered the Celts, contributed only five to ten percent of the British gene pool. The “Atlantic Celts,” long believed to have migrated to Britain from Central Europe around 300 BC during the Iron Age, can be linked genetically to the people of Basque country. And linguistic evidence suggests that, besides Celtic languages, a Germanic-type language similar to Norse was also spoken in Britain long before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.

In this groundbreaking study, Stephen Oppenheimer explaines the surprising roots of the present-day cultural identities of the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh.

18 posted on 05/05/2012 2:07:11 PM PDT by blam
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To: stylin19a

Ya’ think! :>)


19 posted on 05/05/2012 7:42:15 PM PDT by TaMoDee ( Lassez les bons temps rouler dans les 2012!)
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To: spetznaz

Awesome collection of quotes on your home page.... Good reads !

Stay Safe !


20 posted on 05/05/2012 8:34:58 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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