Posted on 12/15/2005 10:05:07 PM PST by 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Evolution Ping.
PS(I still think europeans have some Neanderthal genetics and that eventually it will be borne out)
Thread's all wuked up, but I'll ping "the few" ...
Talk about misreading. The author was talking about "race" not "white skin."
Great juxtaposition. My immediate thought: this is what happens when man tries to play God.
Is that so? Well, perhaps you will show me where the word "race" is mentioned. It isn't.
I think it was just a poorly worded way of saying that differentiation of humans by color is one of the sources of strife, not white skin per se.
We really need to save the outrage for the times when it is truly deserved. This is a non-starter.
What surprises me is that the white-skinned mutant wasn't killed or left behind. OTOH, what if the white skin at the time was seen as a mark of some kind of spiritual favor, and was actually nurtured and protected by the community? What if everyone in the tribe wanted to have offspring with the "the glowing one"? Then, when all the little light-skinned babies started running around, they got scared and turned them all out, and they formed their own tribe?
See? I can play too!
It goes to show that you are an asset to FR.
Cool.
I did not say they only hate Christian white people. They hate anyone who is not of their political bent but they hate White Christians - they target White Christians - the most with active discrimination and hate doctrines.
When they had the KKK assortment of majority preferences, they hated whites who opposed their racial doctrines and system of racial preferences. But they targeted their hate doctrines and divison schemes centrally at Black Americans. The Democrats' hatred of Condi can be compared to this. She is off the race reservation just as whites who opposed segregation (Republicans) were off the race reservation.
The man is a Caucasian, albeit dark. It's not the same as a black African.
Perhaps.
This article is ridiculously racist.
> what if the white skin at the time was seen as a mark of some kind of spiritual favor, and was actually nurtured and protected by the community?
Would hardly be surprising. While offspring that are clearly defective are often killed, exposed, left to die, sent down the river or whatever in primitive societies, individuals who are not physically defective but who are clearly *different* are oftentimes treasured. Schizophrenics and other mental disorders are often seen as being touched by the gods, for good or ill. So if a baby was born of a different color, it's possible that some spiritual advantage could be assumed.
Some times its hard to tell the Koran from a D&D Monster manual.
LOL!!!!!!!!
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