Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin

Washington Post ^ | December 16, 2005 | Rick Weiss

[RWR8189]

Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife.

The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races.

Leaders of the study, at Penn State University, warned against interpreting the finding as a discovery of "the race gene." Race is a vaguely defined biological, social and political concept, they noted, and skin color is only part of what race is -- and is not.

In fact, several scientists said, the new work shows just how small a biological difference is reflected by skin color. The newly found mutation involves a change of just one letter of DNA code out of the 3.1 billion letters in the human genome -- the complete instructions for making a human being.

"It's a major finding in a very sensitive area," said Stephen Oppenheimer, an expert in anthropological genetics at Oxford University, who was not involved in the work. "Almost all the differences used to differentiate populations from around the world really are skin deep."

[Cronos]

Two things genetically different primarily responsible for "White Men Can't Jump" syndrome. Routing of muscles in "upper thigh" (over the butt - thus "Baby's got back" is an accurate observation) plus the ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle.

Interesting -- I didn't know that, do you have more data on this?

[Mr. Rational]

It is not PC to point out that there are real genetic differences between the sub groups of our race. I pulled this quickly off another post - not my words -

link to a decent explaination on fast twitch/slow twitch -

http://www.jonentine.com/reviews/AAAS_peeringUnderTheHood.htm

In his book "Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It", Jon Entine interviewed scientists who have done research into elite athletes.

The scientists said that people from different parts of the world have differences in their DNA that affect more than skin color. Your muscles are a mixture of fast twitch fibers and slow twitch fibers. Sprinting speed comes from fast twitch, and endurance from slow twitch.

Entine said it has been shown, using the list of Olympic track and field medalists, that a different area of the world produces the best athletes in each event. Not the country of citizenship, but where their ancestors came from. Sprint medalists are from the Caribbean. Distance medalists are from one part of Kenya.

Is it wrong to talk about it? Only if you are a leftist. The scientists in Entine's book have already been insulted by their leftist academic peers for daring to study anything connected with race. Some feel they can't publish their scientific results in academic journals for fear of reprisal. Leftists don't tolerate scientific proof. Leftists believe freedom of speech only applies to themselves.

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Gluteous maximus routing - I can't remember where I saw this.

[Unassuaged]

‘The Democrat-dominated Klan of the 19th Century’

You mean the ancestors of today’s southern republicians?
I kid, but there is some truth to this.